Code: OVERLOAD
by Yoru no Sakka
Summary: Sequel to Lyoko Revolution. When the Lyoko Warriors heroics are realized, will they be able to handle the new found fame? Meanwhile, a new enemy controlled by X.A.N.A. emerges from the past in order to destroy the warriors and take over the world. Will the Lyoko Warriors be able to defeat their worst enemy yet, and handle the attention? Read to find out
1. A Regular Day

**Hello there fellow Lyoko fans, and welcome to the very first chapter of Code: OVERLOAD. It has taken me a very long time to decide what will be in this new fanfic, and I have to say myself, I'm a bit excited to see it come together w" anyway, has anyone seen the photos for CL season 5? When you do tell me what you think by posting a review, for I'm interested to see what people think! Enjoy!**

**PS- I'll be trying a new format for author's notes!**

**- Double L 910**

**Chapter 1: A Regular Day**

It had been three months since the X.A.N.A. attack with Max had occurred. Since his operation, Mason now had the freedom of other kids: exercising, playing sports, and working out. Plus, during the time between then and now, the Lyoko warriors had managed to free William from X.A.N.A.'s grasp. At first Mason and William didn't talk, but eventually they got to know each other. Now, everyone was anticipating final exams, and were anxious for summer vacation. Before the final exams occurred though, the teachers decided to let the students relax and watch some of the movies created by the members of the film club.

"Okay students, now we are going to watch a film created by our own Odd Della Robia, and with the help of his friends," smiled Mr. Chardin putting in the film.

Meanwhile, the Lyoko gang were sitting in the front row of the gym. Odd had a bunch of popcorn in his lap, and everyone else just had a soda. Odd had given each of them roles in the movie, but Odd never told them anything about the others' role. All of them were a bit anxious to see what their creative friend had in store.

"This is the best film I have ever created, I promise you guys that this will never be forgotten!" smiled Odd eating some popcorn out of the giant popcorn bag.

"Yeah Odd I have to agree. This is going to be good," smiled Mason chewing on some popcorn that he stole from Odd.

"Yeah, I tell you, it's good to take some time off after being controlled by X.A.N.A.," smirked William taking some of Odd's popcorn as well.

"Yeah Odd, this might be your best film yet," sarcastically said Jeremy taking a sip of his soda.

The gym lights turned off, and the film began to start. It started out with what looked like a painted street in the Bronx. Suddenly Sissi, playing a cranky hideous mother, yelled at the camera.

" DEAR IT'S TIME TO STOP BOXING AND COME IN FOR THE NIGHT!" yelled Sissi through a cardboard cut window.

"OKAY MOM!" said a voice that sounded familiar to Jeremy's.

The whole gym began to laugh at Sissi's humiliation. Sissi made an evil face at Odd, and turned red from the anger that she was holding in.

The film then cut to a scene with Jim yelling at the camera. It took place in the gymnasium, which now had a boxing ring and several pieces of boxing equipment.

"Alright you twig! Time to get you into shape! If you lose this tournament, then we lose the prize money to save our gym!" barked Jim.

The camera then turned to Jeremy who was wearing boxing gloves, and was sitting in a chair. Everyone in the gym began to laugh, while Jeremy sat pouting in the chair.

"Don't worry Jeremy, you look very nice," assured Aelita smiling at Jeremy.

"But Jim! I'm too weak and meager. Plus my huge brain is far too big for my head! How am I going to get in shape for the big tournament!? asked Jeremy in the film.

Everyone in the gym giggled at that last line. Jeremy got a little red, and glared at Odd.

"HAHA! Well! I've found a young rogue on the street willing to train you!" barked Jim bringing Ulrich in from outside in gangster clothing.

"Yo, I'm here to train you for the big tournament, dog?" said Ulrich in weak attempt to sound like a good-for-nothing off the streets.

Everyone in the gym started to laugh again. The film went on some more, and it got to a part where Jeremy was in a boxing ring. Jeremy was jumping up and down in the ring throwing some air punches.

"KICK HIS HEAD OFF!" squealed Aelita at Jeremy from the side of the boxing ring.

The opponent had appeared on the other side of the ring. It was Mason, who was now buffed up due to his new ability to work out. Mason owned a scar on his chest from his operation, and Odd took the liberty to add some fake scars as well. Mason pounded his boxing gloves together, and flexed his biceps as well as the pectorals.

"BWA HA HA! YOU SEND LITTLE FIELD MOUSE TO FIGHT BIG BEAR?! IS THIS INSULT?!" laughed Mason having a Russian accent in the film.

Everyone was howling with laughter for Aelita and Mason, and then suddenly Jeremy's computer went off. Jeremy opened it to show that the superscanner had found an activated tower.

"X.A.N.A.?" asked Mason.

Jeremy gave a nod, and everyone else nodded back at Jeremy. They all got up, and snuck out of the building without being detected. William and Yumi were especially quick to get out of the gym to skip having to see their roles in the film. They then ran across campus to reach the manhole in the forest. Odd opened up manhole, and everyone made their descent into the sewer.

"Ah! Feels good to get to go to Lyoko once again, you know fighting the monsters, saving the world, the usual stuff," smirked Mason waiting for Ulrich to climb down the manhole.

"Yep, just clocking in," smirked Ulrich climbing down the ladder.

Mason followed Ulrich down ,and got on his skateboard. Everyone skated, or scooted, through the sewer system and wound up at the factory. They climbed out of the sewer, and ran across the bridge until they reached the inside of the factory. Everyone got a hold of one of the ropes and slid down to the floor of the factory. Jeremy pushed the button for the elevator, and everyone got in. They then headed down to the super computer room, and filed out when the elevator took them to their destination. Jeremy jumped into his computer chair and swung around to see the supercomputer monitors.

"Well guys, we have an activated tower in the desert sector," said Jeremy putting his headset in, and then beginning to type in all the information for preparation to transfer.

"Okay then Jeremy, I'll just-" said William

"No way William. You just got out of X.A.N.A.'s control, and you wouldn't be any good if your possessed by him again," replied Jeremy with his eyes glued to the computer screen.

William gave an irritated grunt. He knew that there was no way that he could argue with the majority, and if he pushed it they would ban him from Lyoko forever. He just leaned on Jeremy's computer and decided to just watch the action go down from there.

"Alright, Mason, Aelita, Ulrich, and Yumi. You're up first, and if worse comes to worse, Odd and then William," said Jeremy while the others headed to the scanner room.

"Well this will be boring then, let them have all the fun first huh?" asked Odd taking out his handheld videogame.

"I would let you go to Lyoko Odd, but think of it as revenge for what you did to me in that film," said Jeremy giving an evil smile.

"Wait, so you're going to let me on Lyoko still?" asked William.

"Of course, if we have to, we believe you're still a valuable player to the team. The trouble is we don't know if your still in risk of X.A.N.A. taking you over or not," explained Jeremy.

William gave a satisfied smirk and leaned against the wall. Mason, Aelita, and Ulrich got into their respective scanners.

"Tell me if it gets too tough there, and then I can get sent to Lyoko to teach those creepy monsters a lesson!" joked Odd speaking through Jeremy's headset.

Jeremy did procedure, and then sent the warriors to Lyoko. They soon were virtualized to Lyoko with their vehicles already programmed into Lyoko. After a few moments of waiting, Yumi dropped from the sky as well. Mason then realized that something about him was different.

"Wow Jeremy, what'd you do to my costume?" asked Mason looking himself over.

"I made a few adjustments to your persona on Lyoko Mason. I gave you a more improved style of fighting, and I stabilized your abilities as well. I lastly made your costume a more sleek version of the junked armor you used to wear," replied Jeremy with a sense of pride.

"Thanks Jeremy, this is so cool," replied Mason turning on his new power gloves for fighting hand to hand.

"Okay okay! You can thank me later! Just get to the tower! It's southwest from your current location," instructed Jeremy.

Mason got on his Overwheel, Ulrich got on his Overbike, and Yumi and Aelita got on the Overwing. They all started their vehicles, and made their way to the activated tower.

"So Ulrich, Yumi, are you going to tell William?" asked Mason driving on his Overwheel.

"Tell William what?" asked Ulrich.

"That you and Yumi are dating. William likes Yumi right?" replied Mason.

"Well, we haven't gone on a technical date yet, so we're not exactly dating yet. We're just in a relationship as of now," explained Ulrich with Yumi nodding behind him in agreement.

Mason made a face of disapproval, and then shook his head. Mason then made a sound of disapproval which caught the attention of Jeremy.

"What's wrong Mason?" asked Jeremy.

"Are you hearing this conversation? Ulrich and Yumi…..just forget it," sighed Mason speeding up his Overwheel.

"Well, what about you and Emily? Huh?" teased Yumi.

"Well… I… WE ARE NOT DATING! HELL WE'RE NOT EVEN IN A "RELATIONSHIP"!" defended Mason blushing.

They finally got to the tower, and suspiciously there were no monsters there or anything. The Lyoko Warriors surveyed their surrounding just in case of a trap, but nothing was there.

"Huh, I wonder where all the monsters are," replied Aelita looking around.

"I must've scared them off. Since I beat up Max, I guess the monsters are thinking twice about taking me on," joked Mason throwing some air punches.

"Yeah, they were scared you were going to bleed all over them," laughed Ulrich causing everyone else to laugh.

"Well, I better go deactivate the tower then," smiled Aelita getting off, and stepping into the tower.

When Aelita went into the tower, Mason looked at Ulrich and Yumi and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" asked Ulrich folding his arms.

"So you two have been together for about three months, and yet you haven't gone on a single date yet?" asked Mason scratching his head in confusion.

"Well, yeah. Ulrich and I decided to take this thing a little slow," said Yumi playing with her fans.

"When you say slow, do you mean snail-paced? Anyway, you know William won't leave Yumi alone Ulrich, so you two need to tell William," suggested Mason leaning on the Overwheel.

"Tell me about what?" asked William speaking through Jeremy's headset.

"NOTHING WILLIAM!" they all said simultaneously.

"Anyway, I don't think it's any of your business what we do in our relationship," replied Yumi.

Mason gave a shrug, and then he turned around to look in the other direction. He tapped his foot, and then gave a huff. He then remembered something important and turned around.

"Hey, um, by the way, I'm going to be gone for a few days. This will be starting next week," said Mason.

"Huh why?" asked Ulrich.

"Talk to William, and I'll tell you why," smirked Mason.

"Pft, no way Mason, William doesn't need to know about our relationship status," replied Yumi.

"Fine, then I guess what I have to say doesn't need to be known about either," smirked Mason.

"Okay Jeremy, I deactivated the tower!" smiled Aelita.

"Okay that's great, good job Aelita! Let me devirtualize you guys!" said Jeremy typing in more information into the supercomputer.

"About time, it's starting to get boring out here without you guys!" yelled Odd still playing on his handheld game system.

"Devirtualize Yumi, Ulrich, Mason, and Aelita!" said Jeremy as the four began to disappear.

Suddenly, the super computer flashed a red exclamation point on the super computer's monitor with Aelita's devirtualization process.

"Oh no!" gasped Jeremy typing into the supercomputer.

"What?" asked Odd and William.

"Something went wrong in the devirtualization process, that's probably the X.A.N.A. attack!" gasped Jeremy.

Jeremy, Odd, and William went into the scanner room. They met with Mason, Ulrich, and Yumi who had just gotten out of the scanners.

"What's wrong?" asked Yumi.

"Something happened with the supercomputer, and it's saying that Aelita didn't devirtualize correctly!" explained Jeremy tapping his foot in anxiety for the scanner to open.

"Don't worry Jeremy, she'll be fine. It looked like she devirtualized properly from our end," explained Ulrich.

The scanner door opened, and then Aelita came out in her regular fashion through the smoke that the scanner produced.

"Aelita! Are you okay?" asked Jeremy taking Aelita's hand and leading her out of the scanner.

"Yeah I'm perfectly fine, why? Did something happen in the supercomputer?" asked Aelita.

"Yeah, but it might have just been a bug in the supercomputer Jeremy, no need to worry about it," said Odd putting his handheld videogame in his pocket.

"Okay then, we'll just head back to campus then!" said William clapping his hands together, "Good work team Lyoko!" he finished giving two thumbs up.

They all left the factory, and then headed back to the campus. Then, Yumi and Ulrich stopped in the middle of the woods to talk.

"So? Going back to your house then?" asked Ulrich holding Yumi's hand.

"Yeah, I'll arrive at the house near curfew, but nothing to worry about. Call me if anything bad happens to Aelita, and I'll try to sneak out of the house," smiled Yumi.

"It'll be fine Yumi, like Odd said, it was just probably a little glitch in the supercomputer that caused it to happen, but I will be sure to call you anyway," smiled Ulrich taking Yumi's other hand.

"Okay then, I can't wait to hear from you," blushed Yumi.

Ulrich leaned in and gave Yumi a small peck on the lips, and then let go of her hands. Yumi smiled with a tint of red in her porcelain face, and then she headed to her house. Ulrich walked off humming a happy little tune, and then he saw Mason then leaning against a tree.

"Yes?" asked Ulrich.

"So when are you and Yumi going to go on a date?" asked Mason.

"Last time I checked, it was me dating Yumi not you," said Ulrich proud of his clever remark.

"Hey I'm just asking, I bet Yumi would like it if you took her somewhere nice," suggested Mason.

Ulrich gave a shrug and then just kept walking. He decided that since Mason was getting into his business, it wouldn't hurt if he got into Mason's business.

"So how about you and Emily then, since you can't seem to stay out of me and Yumes' business," asked Ulrich.

"Eh, we talk, I mean, it's been kind of awkward since the incident about me and Max," explained Mason.

"Well, why don't you try to get close again? I bet she likes you," replied Ulrich.

"I guess, but I mean, I asked her out during Valentine's Day. Then Max came out, and then we had to use return to the past," sighed Mason.

"Wait, you asked her out before we used return to the past?" smiled Ulrich.

"Yeah, like I said though. Before anything could happen Apollo came and then things went south," replied Mason keeping the truth from Ulrich that he and Emily had almost kissed.

"You should try again then," smirked Ulrich.

Mason gave a shrug then he and Ulrich met up with Odd. They all walked back to campus together, and conversing all the way there about final exams. When they got back to the school, the film club had finished showing all the films. Then, Sissi came storming up to Odd with Nicholas and Herve in tow.

"You thought that was so funny huh? Making me the cranky and hideous mother of the inspired boxer in your film huh?" asked Sissi.

"Yeah that was idea, I tried to capture your real-life looks in my film," joked Odd making the picture frame with his two hands.

"Very funny Oddball, but I would have been better off as the girlfriend of the rebel huh Ulrich?" said Sissi smiling at Ulrich.

"Pft, whatever" huffed Ulrich walking past Sissi.

Mason and Odd tried to hold back their laughter from Ulrich's cold shoulder to Sissi. Now that Ulrich was officially dating Yumi, he didn't have to put up with Sissi's harassment any longer. Sissi took Ulrich ignoring as a hint, and gave an irritated huff while walking away with her two cronies. Meanwhile, Yumi had just gotten to her house, and opened the gate. Then, William had just turned the corner on his skateboard and went up to Yumi stopping a few inches in front of the Japanese beauty.

"Hey Yumi what's going on?" asked William picking up his skateboard, and holding it under his arm.

"Nothing much, just going into my house," said Yumi looking to her house.

"You know Yumi, I got these tickets to the Subdigital's concert tomorrow, and I was wondering if-" went on William.

"William I can't," interrupted Yumi brushing a few strands of hair from her face.

"Well why not?" asked William.

"I was planning on staying home and doing homework. Also I have to study for exams tomorrow," lied Yumi.

"Oh well, how about the day after then?" asked William in hope of having Yumi to himself that day.

"No William, I'll be busy that day as well," said Yumi closing the gate behind her.

William gave a surprised look, and decided to just gave up and skateboarded away. William pondered about what just happened and realized that Ulrich might of had something to do with his rejection by Yumi. Yumi opened the door, and went inside to see her father and little brother in the main room. While her mother was in the kitchen cleaning some dishes.

"Hi dad," smiled Yumi placing her bag on the floor.

"Ah Yumi, it's nice to see you home on time," said Takeo playing koi-koi with Hiroki.

"What's wrong? Did Ulrich not show up today?" teased Hiroki placing a card down on the table.

"Ugh! Hiroki!" gritted Yumi blushing.

Yumi's mind then trailed off to Ulrich. Ulrich, her first boyfriend, and hoping to be her only one. Three months had passed since Ulrich had the guts to ask Yumi out on a date. Then, Yumi made a shocking realization. Yumi hadn't told her parents that she had dated Ulrich, for about three months now, and she had better come clean quick before her parents found out. Yumi sat at the table, and looked at her brother, she took her pencil and began tapping Morse code on the wall for Hiroki to hear. Hiroki's head perked towards the direction of the noise, and realized that Yumi was speaking in Morse code.

"_Hiroki, I have something important to say"_

Hiroki then started to drum his fingers on the table to respond to Yumi.

"_What is it Yumi?" _

"_Well, me and Ulrich started to date…"_

Hiroki then started to laugh, and this caught the attention of his mom and dad. Yumi gave a mean glare at Hiroki thinking that he had blown her cover.

"Is… everything alright son?" asked Takeo.

"Sorry, I just remembered a funny joke Johnny told me this morning," said Hiroki rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Okay then, Koi-Koi!" announced Takeo placing the cards in a pile.

Hiroki and Yumi then continued on with their Morse code conversation.

"_Gee, thanks Hiroki!"_

"_Sorry Yumi, I'm glad that you two FINALLY ARE DATING, but what's the problem?"_

"_Um, we've been dating for three months, but I haven't told mom or dad yet,"_

"_OOOOOOOOOOO you're going to be in trouble!"_

"_I know, do I just tell them that I just got asked out tonight?"_

"_Yeah, and then tell Ulrich that. Also, dad might not be too happy about you dating anyone he hasn't met,"_

" _That's a good point. I'll tell them now and see how it plays out,"_

"_Good luck,"_ ended Hiroki in Morse code before putting full attention back in the card game.

Yumi gave a sigh, and then she cleared her throat. She thought that this would be the perfect time to give her announcement since the family was there together.

"Hey mom, dad, I have something important to tell you," said Yumi.

"Yes, what is it dear?" asked Akiko, Yumi's mother, as she cleaned up after dinner.

"Well, I can now tell you why I have stayed out late, and I'm sorry for lying to you about it but," said Yumi going on.

Takeo and Akiko immediately swung their heads around to see what Yumi had to say. Akiko then came into the main room and sat down.

"Go on?" eagerly said Takeo pushing the card game to the side.

"Hey! I almost had a Koi-Koi!" protested Hiroki folding his arms.

"Well, like I said awhile back, I kept coming home late because I really like a boy. Now that boy has asked me out, and I said yes," explained Yumi.

Takeo and Akiko looked at each other with the look of "our little girl has grown up" and then they turned around to look back at Yumi.

"Okay, who is it? Come one don't keep me waiting!" smiled Takeo now happy to have an explanation of Yumi's poor behavior.

"Um, Ulrich Stern?" said Yumi.

Takeo's smile turned into a frown, and then he stood up and paced the room for a moment. He stopped pacing and then looked back at Yumi with a stern look on his face.

"Really? How long have you known him?" asked Takeo.

"Since I first went to school here dad," smiled Yumi.

"What are his grades like?" asked Takeo putting his arms behind his back.

"Pretty decent," lied Yumi.

"Does he take part in any sports?" asked Yumi's father now rubbing his chin.

"He plays soccer, and he's also into Penak Silat," explained Yumi.

Takeo paced the room for another minute, and then looked over at Akiko who nodded at her husband. Takeo gave a sigh, and then looked back at Yumi.

"Hmm, okay Yumi this is what I'm going to do. I won't say anything until I meet him, but I would like it if he would come over for lunch tomorrow so I can talk to him," said Takeo.

Yumi smiled. She was expecting her father to sharply reply with "NO WAY! I WILL NEVER LET YOU DATE!", but this is definitely better than that. She stood up and hugged her father while giving a little giggle.

"THAT'S GREAT DADDY! OH THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I PROMISE YOU'LL LIKE HIM A LOT! HE'S A REALLY GREAT GUY!" smiled Yumi kissing her father's cheek.

"I sure hope so, for his sake," replied Takeo looking over at Hiroki who was now holding back laughter.

"Okay Yumi, now go off to bed, and if your boyfriend calls tonight tell him what your father had said," smiled Yumi's mother.

Yumi ran up the stairs and got ready for bed. She took a bath and then got into bed. Suddenly she heard her phone ring, and she looked at the caller ID. Her phone said that it was Ulrich. She answered the phone and put it up to her ear.

"Hello, is that you Ulrich?" smiled Yumi.

"No Yumi, it's Odd," joked Ulrich with sarcasm in his voice.

"Okay, ODD, what'd you call for?" asked Yumi.

"Just wanted to call to see what you were doing," smiled Ulrich.

"I'm doing fine thanks for asking. My dad wants you to come over tomorrow, and I told them about us today," smiled Yumi.

"Really? What'd your dad say?" asked Ulrich.

"He wants to meet you before he says anything," said Yumi.

"Well, that's better than expected. I'll come over then," said Ulrich.

"Okay well I got to go now Ulrich, I'll see you tomorrow at school," said Yumi.

" Okay Yumi. Bye," said Ulrich ending the call.

"So, what'd she say?" asked Odd playing with Kiwi.

"Her dad wants to meet me tomorrow during lunch," replied Ulrich.

"Well that's better than expected. I was thinking that her dad you have you on the steak in the front of their yard to warn all others," smiled Odd.

"Very funny Odd," said Ulrich holding his soccer ball.

"You think William harassed Yumi tonight?" asked Odd.

"Probably, but Yumi would have turned him down. I would listen to Mason and tell William that Yumi and I are dating now, but I don't want Mason to gloat over him being right. Plus, if I told William, he'd just harass Yumi more," replied Ulrich dropping the ball on the floor.

"Yeah that's a good point Ulrich," said Odd falling back on his bed.

Odd thought about today, and the fact that X.A.N.A. had chickened out from an attack. Then, Odd suddenly thought about something which was worth asking Ulrich. It was controversial within their group, but he wanted to see what Ulrich thought about it.

"Hey Ulrich," said Odd.

"Yeah?" asked Ulrich.

"What do you think happened on Lyoko today with Aelita?" asked Odd.

"Probably nothing if anything not major, I bet Einstein is looking into it now," replied Ulrich.

"Hey Ulrich?"asked Odd.

"What Odd?" asked Ulrich beginning to get annoyed at his friend.

"What would you think would happen if the world knew our secret?" asked Odd putting down Kiwi on his bed.

"Hm, everyone would probably want to shut down the supercomputer, and try to get us into trouble," replied Ulrich after thinking about it for a long time.

"Okay, just wondering. Sometimes I catch myself wondering if the world will ever discover our secret life of crime fighting and world saving," sighed Odd looking over at Ulrich.

"Well that's what we signed up for, life endangerment and thankless job opportunity," snickered Ulrich pulling the covers over himself.

"Okay then goodnight," replied Odd doing the same thing.

During that time, Mason had just climbed the stairs to get to his new dorm room with Jeremy. Mason was thinking about the mission to Lyoko today, and then accidentally bumped into someone while in his zone.

"Oh I'm sorry," replied Mason turning around," Emily? What are you doing here?" asked Mason.

"Oh! I came to give you your backpack, you forgot it at the film showing," explained Emily handing the bag over to Mason.

"Gee thanks, I would have been in trouble if I couldn't find my backpack," chuckled Mason slinging the bag over his shoulder.

Emily gave a little smile. Mason returned the smile, and then squinted at Emily.

"What's wrong?" asked Emily.

"There's something different about you today, and I can't put my finger on it," replied Mason walking around Emily in a circle.

"What? I bet it's the dark circles under my eyes, I haven't been able to sleep lately," replied Emily.

" I was thinking that you parted your hair differently. Wait, why have you not been able to sleep?" asked Mason opening the door to his and Jeremy's room.

"Well I've studied really hard for final exams recently, and not to mention that I had this recurring nightmare," replied Emily shaking her head.

"Oh really? Want to tell me what your dream is?" asked Mason.

"Well, I was the forest, with you. Then, someone came out of the woods with a gun, and it shot at you. I couldn't recognize the person who shot you, but he seemed oddly familiar," replied Emily trying to remember the horrific dream.

Mason eyes widened. He thought that the return to the past erases all memory of what happened in a X.A.N.A. attack. He just had to play it cool, and then he could talk to Jeremy about it.

"Oh, really? That's a strange dream, but as you can see, I'm alive," smirked Mason flexing his arm muscles.

"Yeah that's nice," smiled Emily, "Well good night!" she said walking down the stairs.

"Yeah, good night," replied Mason closing the dorm door.

"Have a nice talk with Emily lover-boy?" smirked Jeremy typing on his computer.

"Har-har Jeremy. Say do you know if people can dream about past X.A.N.A. attacks?" asked Mason.

"Yeah sometimes, William did before we let him into the group. Why do you ask?" questioned Jeremy.

"Emily said she had a dream about the incident with Max and I," explained Mason.

"Oh, well, it's just a dream to her, so she'll probably get over it and forget about it soon enough," explained Jeremy.

"Ah, I see, well goodnight," said Mason getting into his pajama wear.

"Goodnight, I'll be up for a while doing a super scan for our good old friend X.A.N.A, so don't expect me to get to bed anytime soon," said Jeremy opening the super scanner program.

"Okay, you know, you can watch my T.V. if you want," shrugged Mason rolling over to go to sleep.

"Nah, I'm good for now," said Jeremy rejecting Mason's offer.

Everyone went to sleep, and in the girl's dorm, things were beginning to get bad for Aelita. When she went to sleep, she began to have a nightmare. This nightmare was no longer with Mr. Puck, but now she herself was in the dream. She was in the middle of the forest, and when she turned around, a massive black wolf was behind her growling and flashing the eye of X.A.N.A. in its eyes. Suddenly the voice of her father could be heard echoing throughout the woods.

"Run Aelita, RUN!" yelled her father's voice.

Aelita did what she was told, and started to run into the forest. The wolf ran after her trying to grab a hold of her, but Aelita managed to hide behind a rock. The wolf then disappeared, and when Aelita came out from hiding, the wolf lunged at her with the eye of X.A.N.A. flashing in her sight. Aelita woke up in terror, and she was sweating. She looked around and found Mr. Puck on the floor, and held him tightly.

"It was just a nightmare, just a nightmare, nightmares aren't real!" denied Aelita holding Mr. Puck close.

When Aelita came to her senses, she did what Yumi had suggested and opened her journal and wrote down the nightmare in great detail. She then closed the journal, and would share it with Yumi tomorrow. She then got up and went to the bathroom. She turned on the faucet to let cold water gather in the sink, and then splashed it on her face. She looked in the mirror and then behind her to make sure the wolf didn't follow her, but then she realized she was being ridiculous.

"Well, I better get back to bed," sighed Aelita walking out of the bathroom.

She walked down the hall until she came to her dorm room door. She caught herself being paranoid again as she looked down both parts of the hallway. She shook her head, opened the door to her bedroom, and then closed it behind her. Aelita then got back into her bed, and snuggled into the sheets. She grabbed Mr. Puck, and held him close.

"Goodnight Mr. Puck," smiled Aelita to herself as she closed her eyes.


	2. Meet the Parents

**A new chapter of CL: CO, and there was much rejoice *yaaay*. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the second chapter to the sequel(with a low 36 views at the moment) Check out the poll on my account for a possible art cover for this fanfic. Anyway enjoy!**

**P.S. be sure to give a review :)**

**- Double L 910**

**Chapter 2: Meet the Parents**

Mason woke up at 7 a.m. thanks to Jeremy's alarm clock buzzing in his ear. Mason took out a maroon t-shirt and some tan pants from his dresser, and dressed himself so. He then grabbed a navy-blue jacket and zipped it up to where one could only see barely any of the maroon shirt. He looked over to see Jeremy's face stuck against his keyboard, snoring the day away. Mason decided to play a dirty trick on Jeremy and walked up to the Einstein laying his head on the desk. Mason poked Jeremy on the back causing him to shift around a little in his computer chair.

"Hey Einstein, time to wake up," smirked Mason.

Jeremy jerked his head and readjusted his glasses. He had an imprint of the keyboard on his left cheek which caused Mason to give a little chuckle. Jeremy blinked his eyes slowly, and then gave a yawn. He looked over at Mason wondering how he got in his room, but then remembered that he and Mason were roommates.

"It's seven already?" asked Jeremy looking over at his alarm clock drowsily.

"Yeah, and do you know what today is?" asked Mason.

"What's today?" asked Jeremy putting his head back on the desk, and about ready to go back to sleep.

"It's Aelita's birthday, and she's pretty upset that you forgot," replied Mason.

"IT IS!?" gasped Jeremy raising his head almost immediately, and causing his glasses to nearly fall off his face.

Mason gave a hardy laugh and held his hands. Jeremy looked over at Mason and raised an eyebrow.

"I lied, but now that your awake, it's the first day of final exams. You better be ready for your Algebra 2 exam," replied Mason handing Jeremy his Algebra book.

"Ha-ha, very funny Mason," huffed Jeremy putting his glasses back on properly.

"Anyway, time to get some breakfast. You know how we all worry about your health. It's one thing being a genius, but then it's another thing to starve yourself for the sake of knowledge," reminded Mason.

"I know," sighed Jeremy getting a maroon turtle-neck on.

"Better see you at breakfast then," jokingly warned Mason closing the door to their room.

Mason walked down the hall to where Odd and Ulrich's room was. Mason thought it would be a nice thing to make sure Odd and Ulrich were awake, so he opened the door to their room. Mason peered in the room to see Ulrich fully dressed and ready to go breakfast. Mason also saw Odd on the floor getting his shoes on with Kiwi running around one of the shoes.

"Hey guys I just wanted to make sure you-" said Mason before smelling the horrid stench of Odd's feet.

Mason turned around and started to cough. The stench was far too much for Mason's nose, and he nearly wanted to gag from it.

"Oh my god!" stated Mason still coughing.

"Yeah, sorry, forgot to warn you about Odd's atomic-stench feet," laughed Ulrich.

"Hey! Easy there Ulrich," huffed Odd getting his other shoe on.

Mason took a large gulp of air from the hallway, and when he felt ready, he took a step into the room.

"So, are you guys ready for the first day of finals?" grinned Mason.

"Pft, do you define ready as not even knowing how to solve for a simple equation?" questioned Ulrich getting his study materials into his backpack.

"I didn't even take a peek at my review materials, so I'll just copy off Jeremy as I usually do," explained Odd putting some dog food into Kiwi's bowl.

"Ah," replied Mason with an unsurprised look "So what's on the agenda for today?" asked Mason picking up one of Odd's CDs.

"Well Odd and I have the Algebra 2 test today, and then I go to Yumi's house to have lunch with her father," explained Ulrich.

"Huh, I'm surprised that her father hasn't tried to strangle you from what I've heard about him," joked Mason.

"Yeah I'm surprised as well. I better make this a good impression so I don't have to lose Yumi, or worse I don't have to lose my head," gulped Ulrich holding his neck.

"How are you going to do that?" asked Odd putting his books into his book-bag.

"Beats me, but I better think of something before lunch time," sighed Ulrich.

"Hm, why don't you ask Hiroki about Japanese culture? I bet if you knew a thing or two, Yumi's dad would be impressed," suggested Mason.

"That is actually not a bad idea, and it might just work too," smirked Ulrich rubbing his chin.

"You're welcome , anyway let's get going to the mess hall," smirked Mason opening the door.

Ulrich and Odd came out of the room, and then Odd closed the door behind himself. The three boys then made their way towards the mess hall for the daily ritual of breakfast. When Mason, Odd and Ulrich got to the mess hall, they saw Aelita and Yumi sitting down already. Aelita was looking at the ground and Yumi had her arm around Aelita's shoulder. The three boys quickly got their food, and sat down to see what was wrong with their friend.

"Hey what's up Aelita?" asked Ulrich sitting down next to Yumi.

"I had a nightmare last night," sighed Aelita resting her head on her hand.

"What? Another nightmare?" asked Ulrich.

"Yeah Aelita, we thought you had gotten over those nightmares," said Odd beginning to feast upon his croissant..

"It's not the same as the other ones, this time it was a black wolf with the eyes of X.A.N.A., and it was staring at me. My father told me to run in the dream. Then the wolf caught up to me, and that's when I woke up," explained Aelita.

Jeremy then came through the mess hall doors. When he saw Aelita, he immediately went over to see why his pink-haired princess was in distress.

"Aelita! What's wrong?" asked Jeremy immediately sliding into his chair.

"Aelita had a nightmare last night," explained Mason drinking some of his milk.

Aelita explained her dream a second time to Jeremy who nodded, and adjusted his glasses. Jeremy gave a small sound and then turned around.

"I see, well Aelita I also have news on crashing of the supercomputer. It WAS a X.A.N.A. attack after all, but it was different for some reason," explained Jeremy in his intellectual voice.

"Go on," replied Mason.

William then came on the scene, and then sat down in the chair on the opposite side of Yumi. William smiled at Yumi, and she just ignored him and turned to Ulrich.

"So Ulrich, are you ready for lunch?" asked Yumi.

"Yeah, ready as I'll ever be," smirked Ulrich.

William gave a questioned look at Yumi, and then looked over at Ulrich. William squinted his eyes at Ulrich, and then looked over at Yumi.

"Is that the reason you won't go to the concert with me?" asked William.

Yumi looked away, and didn't say a word which immediately answered William's question. William gave Ulrich a look, and was suddenly enlightened about Ulrich and Yumi's relationship. William's eye widened and then looked over at Mason.

"Hey d-did you know that they were together?" asked William stuttering.

"Uh," muttered Mason glancing over at Ulrich who gave Mason a quick nod, and then followed from a nod from Yumi.

"Yeah, I did," admitted Mason hanging his head down.

"Did everyone else know about this?" asked William.

Everyone else nodded to William's question. William's mouth dropped in astonishment, and then he turned over to look at Yumi.

"Well Yumi, all I have to say is congratulations," said William in a monotonous voice.

"Wait William I..." said Yumi.

"Forget it," growled William looking over at the door.

William got up and pushed his plate over at Odd. William then walked out of the mess hall with his hands in his pockets. Odd stared down at his food, and began to eat the remains of William's food.

"That went better than expected," said Ulrich.

"Yeah, I'm surprised nothing worse had come out of this. It's a shame that he had to find out himself though," replied Aelita.

"Anyway I have an idea on what-" said Jeremy before he saw Jim come in and get everyone's attention.

"ALRIGHT YOU GUYS LISTEN UP! TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF YOUR EXAMS OUT OF FOUR DAYS! EVERYONE WILL BE IN THEIR RESPECTED CLASSROOMS STARTING EXACTLY AT 9:15 AM! YOU WILL HAVE 15 MINUTES TO REVIEW YOUR MATERIALS, AND THEN YOUR TEST WILL BEGIN! YOU WILL HAVE ONE HOUR TO COMPLETE YOUR TEST! ANY FORM OF TRYING TO TAKE A PEEK A YOUR MATERIALS WILL RESULT IN A ZERO ON YOU TEST, AND THEN YOU WILL BE REWARDED WITH A LITTLE CHAT WITH THE PRINCIPAL!" announced Jim pacing back and forth through the tables.

The gang looked at the clock, and the time was 8:53. The gang looked at each other, and decided that it would be best if they all headed to their respective classrooms now.

"Well guys, me and Mason better head to face our History exam," smiled Yumi.

"Okay Yumi, I'll see you when I have to face your father," joked Ulrich.

"Don't be like that, my dad was actually pretty calm about it," replied Yumi.

"Really, huh. I guess he's not the hard-core father as I thought he was," smirked Ulrich.

Mason pulled out his chair and stood up. Mason headed for the door and opened it for Yumi.

"Well, I'm going to go now Ulrich," smiled Yumi about to walk away.

"Wait Yumi," smiled Ulrich grabbing Yumi's hand.

Ulrich leaned over and kissed Yumi on the cheek which caused Yumi to blush.

"A little good luck charm for my exams," smiled Ulrich.

Yumi smiled, and she leaned over and kissed Ulrich on the cheek as well.

"See you later," smiled Yumi walking out the door.

Mason gave a nod, and closed the door behind them to start heading to the classroom Yumi waved to Ulrich through the window, and then turned around and walked with Mason. Ulrich gave a love-sick smile, and then turned around to see his friends with goofy grins on their faces.

"AWWWW THAT'S SOOO CUTE!" Odd teased.

"Shut up Odd," said Ulrich punching Odd's arm causing the others to laugh.

Outside, Mason and Yumi began to walk towards their first exam. They were both in the 10th grade hallway when suddenly, Emily ran up to Mason.

"Hey Emily," said Mason giving a small wave.

"Hi, I was wondering if you could tell me the parent function for a parabola?" asked Emily.

"Uh yeah, I'm pretty sure it's x squared," replied Mason scratching his hair.

"Alright, thanks," smiled Emily walking away.

"Huh," replied Mason turning around to see Yumi giving him an evil smile.

"I think she likes you," smiled Yumi.

"Really, why do you say that?" asked Mason walking with Yumi to the exam.

"She's an A student, of course she'd know the parent function for a parabola. She probably wanted an excuse to say hi," replied Yumi.

"You think so?" smiled Mason.

"Mhm," replied Yumi

Then, the bell suddenly rung signaling that the students should head towards their classes. Mason and Yumi headed to Mr. Fumet's class in a hurry to prevent getting a scolding from the teacher. In the classroom, Yumi and Mason sat down at one table while William sat down at another table right behind them. Yumi looked back at William who just turned the other way.

"I know that he always kind of bothered you, but you have to admit that you got to feel a little sorry for him," whispered Mason.

"Only a bit, but maybe we should have told him before he could have found out for himself," admitted Yumi.

"Though I do have to admit that he shouldn't act like this over you two dating," said Mason taking a peek back over at William.

"Enough about William, we should probably look over our review papers before we end up failing this test," suggested Yumi getting out her review papers.

"Yeah," replied Mason getting out the same papers.

After a few minutes Mr. Fumet stood up and clapped his hands to get his students' attention.

"Alright students, please put your review materials away and get out a pencil to prepare for the test," instructed Mr. Fumet taking out the large stack of test papers.

All the students took out a pencil, and then William poked Mason in the back.

"What?" asked Mason turning around.

"May I borrow a pencil?" asked William.

"Sure," said Mason digging around for a pencil.

"Also, since I've been stuck with X.A.N.A., if it would be possible for me to peek at some of your answers?" whispered William extremely quiet to prevent the teacher from hearing.

"Sure, but try to change some of your answers," replied Mason handing William a pencil.

"Okay thanks," replied William.

"Okay students, we start the test in 3…2…1…now!" declared the Mr. Fumet then sitting down at his desk.

Mason, William, and Yumi began their History test while Odd, Jeremy, Aelita, and Ulrich started their Algebra 2 test.. After what seemed like an eternity had finally passed. After an extremely difficult final exam, it felt like on less burden off their backs. After the test, everyone met up in their usual spot to discuss the exam.

"I have never taken such a hard exam in my life!" complained Odd.

"I know, it's so hard to copy off me without Ms. Hertz looking over at you," joked Jeremy causing everyone to laugh.

Mason was dead quiet, and everyone looked over at Mason to wonder why.

"Hey Mason, why so deathly silent?" smiled William, "You should be happy, because of your smart head, I basically passed History!"

"Also, because of Jeremy, I've basically passed Algebra 2!" smiled Odd about to kiss Jeremy's cheek.

"Don't ever think about it Odd," warned Jeremy causing Odd to pull away.

"Eh, I'm just thinking," replied Mason rubbing his fingers down his chin.

"Thinking about what?" asked Aelita.

"Nothing important, and you mind if I chill with you and Jeremy today?" asked Mason looking at Aelita.

"Sure!" smiled Aelita.

Ulrich looked at his watch. He then looked over at Yumi and gave a small nod to get her attention.

"Say Yumi, where's your little brother?" asked Ulrich.

"Hiroki? Why?" asked Yumi.

"I need to ask him something," replied Ulrich.

"Oh, okay. I bet he's over where he just took his final in English," assumed Yumi.

"Okay Yumi, I'll see you when I get to your house, bye!" smirked Ulrich running towards the 7th grade hall.

When Ulrich get there he immediately saw Hiroki talking to Millie. Ulrich had decided to take Mason's advice and ask Hiroki for a little tutoring in Japanese culture. Ulrich walked up to Hiroki and tapped him on the shoulder.

"I swear Yumi it wasn't-" said Hiroki turning around, "Oh".

"I'm not even going to ask, but I need your help," explained Ulrich.

"Help with what?" asked Hiroki.

"I need a little background on your culture to impress your parents today," explained Ulrich.

"Hmmmm, okay, but you got to get me a scoop for Millie," smiled Hiroki.

"Sure," shrugged Ulrich.

"Okay, here's what you need to know," smiled Hiroki.

Back over where the group was, Jeremy adjusted his glasses, and let everyone peek at Jeremy's laptop screen.

"So what you were saying is that X.A.N.A. gave me something?" asked Aelita.

"Exactly, though I don't know exactly what," explained Jeremy typing into the laptop at rapid speeds.

"Did he infect her with a virus?" asked William.

"No, I can't explain it, but he gave her something. I just don't know what he gave her," replied Jeremy.

"Do you think we'll need to go to Sector 5 to go over this?" asked Odd.

"I don't think so, but if we have to, we will," said Jeremy.

"Well okay then, and now I got to go take care of Kiwi so I'll see you guys later," said Odd jumping off the bench and walking towards the dorms.

William looked around, and then saw something on the bench. It was Yumi's cell-phone, and she'd probably be wanting it back. William picked up the phone, and jumped off the bench. He knew that this was his chance to try to let Yumi hear how he felt about Yumi, and he dared not to miss this chance.

"Alright you two, I got an errand to run," said William starting to jog in place.

"Where are you going?" asked Jeremy.

"Just going to return a cell-phone, nothing major," smiled William running into the forest.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," sighed Jeremy.

"That's funny, because every time Sissi comes over to our table during lunch I get the same feeling," smiled Aelita trying to be clever.

"You hang out with Odd too much sometimes," smiled Jeremy getting a kiss on the cheek from Aelita.

William cut through the forest and made it to Yumi's house. He walked up to the door and knocked on the door. The door opened to show Takeo with a stern look on his face.

"Hello," said Takeo moving towards the side to let William in.

"I'm just here for Yumi," explained William.

"What's your name?" asked Takeo.

William thought about the question for a second. One, he could tell Yumi's father that he was William, but then he'd probably get the door slammed on him. On the other hand, if he said that he was Ulrich, Yumi's father could let him into the house. Plus, when he was done talking to Yumi, William could pretend to be sick and then head back to Kadic. William though the second idea was better, so he decided to go for it.

"Um, Ulrich," lied William.

"Okay then, you'll see her soon enough. Come in," instructed Takeo.

Takeo told William to sit in the chair in the hallway, and did William did so.

"Remember just tell Yumi how you feel and then you'll leave," thought William to himself.

Meanwhile, Ulrich had bought some flowers and was heading to Yumi's house, and because of that Ulrich was now 15 minutes late to the lunch.

"Shoot I'm late, so much for a good first impression," growled Ulrich mentally kicking himself.

He had a small note in his pocket of customs and terms he got from Hiroki, and looked over them to double-check what was on the note. He arrived at the Ishiyama house, and now he started to have butterflies in his stomach.

"Okay, be ready Ulrich. This may be the only chance you ever get to impress your girlfriend's parents," muttered Ulrich to himself knocking on the door.

Takeo answered the door and looked at Ulrich up and down.

"Who are you?" asked Takeo.

"Hello sir, I'm here for lunch," smiled Ulrich putting the flowers behind his back and using a 30 degree respect bow as Hiroki instructed him to do.

Takeo was surprised at Ulrich's actions and did a small nod of the head back. He then looked over at William and then Takeo looked back at Ulrich. Takeo now had a frown on his face. This made Ulrich feel very uncomfortable, and when he looked behind Takeo he saw William now sitting at the table.

"William?" asked Ulrich, "What are you doing here?"

William just gave shrug, and ignored Ulrich's question. Takeo looked back and forth at the two boys, and then clenched his teeth slightly.

"What kind of joke is this? Come inside now, and both of you sit on the couch," ordered Takeo who made Ulrich sit down next to William.

Both the boys went over to the couch and sat down. Ulrich looked over at William and gave him an angry face. Ulrich leaned over as to make sure Takeo couldn't hear their conversation.

"What the hell are you doing here William?" growled Ulrich.

"I came here to return Yumi's cell-phone, but then her father let me in," replied William showing the cell-phone telling half of the truth.

"You knew that I was coming here to have lunch with Yumi's family, and God help you I'm going to-" said Ulrich about to grab William's shirt.

"Excuse me gentlemen," interrupted Takeo causing the two boys to straighten out.

"Yes sir!" both boys said.

"Listen to me carefully. One of you is lying about who you are. If it takes my daughter to figure that out it'll be bad trouble for one of you," warned Takeo hearing the door open, "Now you two have about four seconds to fess up,".

Both of the boys stayed silent looking at each other. Ulrich stared at William to tell, but William said nothing. Meanwhile in the kitchen Akiko was wiping off the good dishes for lunch. Suddenly X.A.N.A.'s spector made the wall plug short-circuit. Akiko leaned in closer to see what was wrong with the plug, but then the spector got control of Yumi's mom. Yumi, with Hiroki behind her, opened the front door to see the two boys sitting on the couch, and her father not very pleased.

"Ulrich, William? What are you doing here?" asked Yumi looking very surprised.

"So one of these boys IS your boyfriend after all? Please tell me Yumi, which one is your boyfriend?" asked Takeo folding his arms.

"Yeah, it's the one in the-" said Yumi before hearing the dishes break in the other room

"AKIKO!" gasped Takeo running towards the kitchen.

"MOM!" gasped both Yumi and Hirko accompanying their father.

Ulrich and William followed shortly behind the Ishiyama family to see that, in the kitchen, Akiko was on the ground unconscious. Akiko suddenly got up, and her whole body was jittering with the eye of X.A.N.A. flickering in her eyes.

"Not now!" groaned Yumi putting her hand on her forehead.

Akiko then electrocuted Yumi causing Hiroki to squeal. Takeo immediately ran over to Hiroki and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Come with me Hiroki!" yelled Takeo rushing Hirko upstairs.

Takeo and Hiroki rushed upstairs as Akiko tried shooting electricity at them. While the spector was busy, Ulrich ran over to Yumi and tried to wake her up.

"Ulrich?" asked Yumi weakly.

"Listen, you and William are going to Lyoko, and I'll stay here to make sure the spector doesn't hurt your family," smiled Ulrich leading Yumi over to William before Ulrich got thrown through the wall.

"Let's go Yumi!" yelled William piggybacking Yumi through the house and out the door.

Before the spector could follow them, Ulrich came behind with a wooden katana, and smacked the spector across the head. This didn't affect the spector, but it let William and Yumi get to the factory, and call up Jeremy and Aelita. Jeremy's laptop suddenly rang on activated tower, and then his cell-phone rang.

"Hello?" said Jeremy.

"Jeremy, it's William. X.A.N.A. has possessed Yumi's mom and it's attacking her family and Ulrich," explained William putting Yumi down as she woke up.

"Okay head to the factory. I'll call Odd to tell him to get to the factory!" said Jeremy hanging up his cell-phone.

"X.A.N.A. attack?" asked Mason.

Jeremy gave a nod, and Aelita and Mason got up. All three of them headed to the factory and met up with William and Yumi in the sewer.

"Odd should be here in a moment," explained Jeremy getting on his scooter.

They all eventually got to the factory, and there they met Odd at the top floor of the factory.

"How did you get here so fast Odd?" asked Mason.

"Oh, I was already by the manhole by the time you called," smiled Odd.

They all headed into the elevator and went down to the supercomputer room. Meanwhile at the Ishiyama residence, the controlled Akiko had gotten a hold of a katana and was swinging it at Takeo. Hiroki was locked inside his room and Ulrich was on the floor after being thrown across the hallway.

"Now honey I know we've had our differences, but I think we should take the marriage counseling like you said," smiled Takeo nodding right before the spector thrust the katana right below Takeo's groin area causing Takeo to make an uncomfortable face. Ulrich woke up and pushed the spector away and grabbed the katana.

"Hit me with your best shot," smiled Ulrich doing a beckoning motion with his hand.

"Dad, this is why Ulrich is Yumi's boyfriend!" smiled Hiroki.

"Huh?" winced Takeo looking at Ulrich.

The spector made an evil grinning face, and lunged towards Ulrich. Meanwhile, at the factory, Jeremy had just started up the virtualization process.

"Yumi, Odd, Aelita, and Mason, you're up!" spoke Jeremy as Aelita, Odd and Yumi entered the scanner.

Jeremy entered the procedure, and the Lyoko warriors were virtualized into the forest sector. Soon, Mason was with them.

"Your activated tower is due east," explained Jeremy virtualizing the vehicles.

"Okay Jeremy," said Yumi flying off on her Overwing with Aelita in tow.

Mason and Odd followed behind, but they soon encountered three Krabs and two Tarantulas that were guarding the tower which was glowing its usual red.

"Wow, X.A.N.A. got the big boys out!" said Odd preparing to shoot some laser arrows.

The monsters heard the upcoming enemy, faced their foe and charged up their lasers to fire.

"They've spotted us!" shouted Mason being shot at, causing his Overwheel to disappear.

Everyone jumped off their vehicles, and the Overboard caused one of the Krabs to be destroyed.

"Alright! Odd 1, monsters 0!" smiled Odd.

The Krabs walked towards the warriors, and the Tarantulas got into place to fire.

"You guys will distract them, and I'll try to get up to those tarantulas and try to beat the tar out of 'em. After that, Aelita will come and deactivate the tower," smiled Mason putting his fist into his other hand.

Odd and Yumi nodded in agreement to Mason's strategy. Mason and Aelita ran for cover behind one of the many trees while Yumi and Odd leapt out into the open to gain the attention of X.A.N.A.'s monsters.

"YOOHOO! MR. OVERSIZED SEAFOOD DISH OVER HERE!" waved Odd.

One of the Krabs went towards Odd's direction while the other one stayed to try and take out Yumi.

"That's right stay right there!" smiled Yumi taking out her fans.

The Krab shot at Yumi, but Yumi quickly deflected the laser shot with her fan. Mason and Aelita began to go around the action, and try to get behind the tower to take the Tarantulas by surprise. Odd was giving the Krab a difficult time, but eventually the Krab got a good shot at Odd.

"Odd be careful!" warned Jeremy.

"Okay Jeremy, I'll make sure this walking all-you-can-eat buffet is busy," smiled Odd firing two laser arrows.

The first arrow hit the Krab, causing it to lose only a few life points, while the other arrow missed. Yumi blocked two more shots from the Krab, but then was devirtualized when a Tarantula shot her. The scanner opened with Yumi on the floor pounding her fist on the side of the scanner. Meanwhile, Ulrich was having a hard time fighting off the spector.

"Whew, X.A.N.A.'s getting tougher and tougher," sighed Ulrich dodging the infected Akiko.

Ulrich looked around to see Hiroki had opened the door and was beckoning Ulrich in. Ulrich ran over and jumped into Hiroki's room and locked the door. Ulrich then moved Hiroki's dresser, with the help of Takeo, in front of the door.

"Whew, thank goodness," sighed Takeo leaning against the barricaded door.

"Are you guys okay?" asked Ulrich.

"We're fine, I swear she usually isn't like unless my parents call," replied Takeo giving a small smirk.

Back on Lyoko, Odd was now trying to deal with a Krab and a Tarantula, and it was proving quite the challenge. The other Krab was in the process of looking for Aelita and Mason.

"Odd needs help Aelita, I'll be right back," said Mason to a rock closer to the Krab.

"Okay," nodded Aelita.

Mason saw an opening, and ran towards the Krab. The Krab turned around, but it was too late. Mason grabbed one of the legs, and used super-strength to throw the Krab across the sector. The Krab flew through the air and landed on the other Krab next to Odd.

"Wow two for one, nice one Mason!" smiled Odd giving a thumbs up, but then devirtualized when a new Tarantula came up and fired at Odd.

"Crap!" growled Mason.

The Tarantulas then looked over at Mason and aimed their guns at him.

"Uh oh," said Mason.

The Tarantulas then open-fired at Mason, and caused him to devirtualize. Mason stumbled out of the scanner and rubbed his head.

"Jeremy, I just got devirtualized!" yelled Mason to get Jeremy to hear.

"Yeah I know that, now Aelita's all by herself on Lyoko!" gasped Jeremy typing into the supercomputer.

"Um Jeremy, let William go to Lyoko," suggested Odd.

Jeremy looked over at William, and then back to the supercomputer. Jeremy thought about it for a second and then he adjusted his glasses.

"William hurry to Lyoko," ordered Jeremy causing William to give a smile.

"Are you sure?" asked Yumi.

"William is our only option now," explained Jeremy.

"You won't be disappointed!" smiled William heading down into the scanner room.

William went into one of the scanners, and soon was virtualized on Lyoko. William hit the ground running, and headed towards the sounds of the Tarantula's firing at Aelita. Aelita used her wings to fly to a rock near the tower, but now she was stuck there. Aelita used her energy fields often, but they didn't do any good. When William got to the activated tower, the Tarantulas turned their attention to them and began firing. William stuck his sword into the ground to let his weapon take the blows while William contemplated a strategy.

"I wonder if," trailed off William.

"Wonder what?" asked Jeremy.

"If the powers X.A.N.A. gave me still work," replied William.

"Try it, but HURRY!" spoke Jeremy.

William used his super-smoke ability to get behind the Tarantulas. With one mighty swing William got rid of one of the Tarantulas with little to no effort. The other two Tarantulas began firing at the Lyoko warrior, but William used his sword to block all the attacks. William rushed forward and hit the monsters with the side of his sword and then used a sweep to annihilate another monster. Jeremy was looking over William's progress, and was quite astonished.

"Incredible!" gasped Jeremy.

"What's up?" asked Odd looking over Jeremy's shoulder.

"William's taken out two Tarantulas!" smiled Jeremy typing.

"That's pretty good," admitted Yumi.

"Come on William, one more Tarantula to go!" cheered Odd.

"Easier said than done!" said William blocking the lasers with his sword.

"Wait Jeremy, I have an idea," smiled Aelita running out of cover.

"Wait, Aelita what are you doing?" asked Jeremy.

"Improvising," smiled Aelita doing down on her knees.

Aelita did her infamous song, and created a grove of trees in between William and the Tarantulas. The tarantulas attempted to go around, but the tree were too thick to let them get through.

"Nice one Aelita," smiled William lifting his sword to rest on his shoulder.

Aelita gave a chuckle and a small smile. Ulrich on the other hand was blocking the door, and trying to prevent the spector from getting inside the room.

"I have to say Ulrich, although I've never would admit it on regular circumstances," went on Takeo in the corner of the room.

"I don't think it's the best time for this sir," gritted Ulrich pressing against the door.

"I think it is the right time, and I would rather have you be my daughter's boyfriend than anyone else. I mean, I heard from my non-evil wife that you came over to comfort Yumi when you heard about our fight, and this situation we're in just proves it more that you're worthy for my daughter," explained Takeo.

"R-really?" asked Ulrich.

"Yes," smirked Takeo giving a nod.

It seemed as if the spector had enough of the touching moment, and used its electrical power to break the door into the pieces, and caused Ulrich to be thrown to the other side of the room. The spector looked over at Takeo, and gave him a large dose of electricity as well. Takeo fell to the floor unconscious fidgeting from the large dosage of electricity he had received.

"DAD!" gasped Hiroki.

At Lyoko, Aelita had just run into the tower while William stood guard to make sure no other monsters came their way. At the same time Ulrich had just woken up and attempted to fight off the spector, but was immediately knocked back down next to Takeo. Aelita got on top of the glowing tower pad, and ascended into the upper level of the tower. With Ulrich and Takeo out cold, the spector was charging up one last strike to end both the lives of Takeo and Ulrich with Hiroki looking in horror. Aelita touched her hand on the screen and her name came up in response.

"No! DAD!" cried Hiroki with tears coming to his eyes.

CODE LYOKO came up on the screen, and then the tower became deactivated, and caused the spector to leave Akiko. Akiko put her hand on her head as if she had received a massive headache, and then fell to the ground. Ulrich opened his eyes slightly to see that his friends did their job.

"Good job you guys," murmured Ulrich closing his eyes.

"Return to the past now!" smiled Jeremy activating the program.

The large dome of light consumed the city, and caused time to wind back to where Ulrich walked up to the house with a large bouquet of flowers. He knocked on the door, but instead of Takeo opening the door, it was Hiroki who answered.

"YUMI YOUR BOYFRIEND'S HERE!" smiled Hiroki.

"Okay Hiroki, easy," replied Yumi walking up to the door.

Hiroki gave a chuckle, and ran into the dining room. Ulrich gave a smile which caused Yumi to smile back. He walked up to the top stair of the stair case, and Yumi went in to try to kiss him. Ulrich decided to tease Yumi though, so he decided to put the bouquet in between him and Yumi.

"These are for you," smiled Ulrich handing the flowers to Yumi.

"Thank you, this is really sweet of you Ulrich. My parents are waiting for you at the table, and you're right on time. Try not to be nervous okay?" smiled Yumi letting Ulrich in while giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"I won't have to worry about being nervous, I have a slight feeling that I might get along with your parents. Also, William told me to give this to you as well," smirked Ulrich handing Yumi her cell-phone.

"Aw how sweet of William," joked Yumi, "Where is he so I can thank him?" went on Yumi while laughing.

"Oh, he's a little… tied up at the moment, but you'll see him later," evilly grinned Ulrich.

Meanwhile, William was on the side of the Ishiyama residence bound up in rope with duct-tape on his, so he couldn't move a single inch. As William wiggled and squirmed, he heard Ulrich close the door behind him and Yumi.


	3. Battle of the Bands

**Hey guys! I'm sorry that I haven't updated for awhile. I've been busy with studying for midterms as well as other major assignments...so I will attempt to get to chapter 5 in LR 2.0 as well as CO...Code Hearts I'll try to get another chapter...also I am in search of a new beta tester so if you're interested please PM me...anyway enjoy!**

**Chapter 3: Battle of the Bands**

After the mayhem of the X.A.N.A. attack from the other day, another successful day of exams had come and gone. Now, the Lyoko warriors were hanging out at their usual spot, casually discussing their social matters.

"You know what guys, I think I should start dating Claire again," smirked Odd in a thoughtful tone.

"After what happened between you two last time?" smiled Yumi.

"Hey I'm just saying. I thought about it and I think that despite what happened between us, I believe that we can still have a meaningful relationship," replied Odd defending his viewpoint.

"Let's just hope that she doesn't catch you cheating on her again," laughed Ulrich.

"Speaking of relationships, how was your lunch with Yumi's family?" asked Aelita.

"It went pretty good actually, they really seem to like Ulrich a lot," smiled Yumi which in turn caused Ulrich to give a blush.

"Yeah, I am pretty relieved that they actually do like me and not try to crucify me on the front lawn," grinned Ulrich receiving and small punch on the arm.

Suddenly, the warriors looked up after hearing footsteps to see Mr. Delmas walking up to them. He walked up to them and looked like he had something important to say. Everyone turned their heads towards the principal to hear what he had to say. He adjusted his glasses, gave small cough, and then he began to speak.

"Mr. Della Robia, after much reconsideration on the hiatus status of your band, I've decided that you have done well enough so far in school that you may start it up again. Be warned though, if you do below par on your finals, I will have to get rid of the band once and for all," spoke Mr. Delmas.

"Yes sir, I promise to do well on the exams, scout's honor" smiled Odd putting his right hand over his heart.

"Yes, um, carry on children," replied Delmas walking off towards the school offices.

"YEAH! THANK THE GODS OF ROCK THAT WE MAY START UP THE POP-ROCK PROGRESSIVES AGAIN!" smiled Odd doing a slide on the ground and looking up towards the heavens.

"Who are they?" asked Mason.

"Long story," replied Ulrich.

"We should restart fresh and new, yeah that'd be great, and we should introduce a new member of the band as a way of asking for forgiveness from being away from our fans for so long," contemplated Odd drumming his scheming fingers together.

"Maybe, but what if we don't WANT to play in the band anymore? Hm Odd?" teased Yumi.

"Please?" asked Odd going down on his knees and going into begging position.

"I was just kidding Odd, of course we'll be in the band again. It was probably one of the coolest things we did together as a group," replied Yumi.

"THANK YOU YUMI! Ulrich, you made a good choice for a girlfriend," smiled Odd.

"Mhm," smiled Ulrich blushing a little, "If Yumi is in, then I'm in too I guess",

"GREAT! Now we need a new face for our band" smiled Odd looking over at Mason.

"Wait? What? NO!" barked Mason turning around folding his arms.

"Why noooooottttttt?" whined Odd.

"We've already gone over this, I don't want to go back to sort of life," huffed Mason.

"You know, Emily digs a guy with an instrument," smirked Odd.

Mason paused for a split second, and then he blushed a bit at the idea. If he were to play with the Pop-Rock Progressives, then he'd have the chance to get Emily's attention long enough to ask her out.

"Alright I'll consider it," replied Mason turning back around.

"Okay what would you be in our band?" asked Ulrich.

"You already know I play bass and do vocals," huffed Mason.

"Okay then Mason, go ahead and get your instrument. We'll meet you in the gym for auditions," explained Odd.

"I thought you wanted me SO BAD for this band, so why so I have to audition?" smirked Mason.

"Well….um," stuttered Odd.

"I was just kidding, I'll got get my bass now," chuckled Mason walking off to get his bass from his dorm room.

"That was easy," snickered Odd to himself.

"What about me? Can I join your band" asked Aelita with a twinkle in her eye.

"Well, um, Aelita," hummed Odd.

"What? I can use my D.J. board and I can blast a remix," smiled Aelita hand imitating scratching her records.

"Aelita, um, how can I put this," said Odd rolling his eyes.

"What?" asked Aelita.

"Well, your style of music wouldn't…fit in with our band," sighed Odd.

Aelita looked blankly over at Odd and then she looked at the other two band members. Ulrich and Yumi looked off in other directions to avoid eye contact with their pink-haired friend.

"Oh, okay," looked down Aelita crossing her arms.

"Aelita, I bet we can find a way for you to make some remixes on some of the music we make," reassured Ulrich.

"Yeah, okay," sighed Aelita getting up.

During this whole episode, Jeremy had his head stuck in his laptop trying to find the source of Aelita's nightmares.

"Hey Aelita where are you going?" asked Jeremy lifting his head from the laptop.

"I'm going to my room," sighed Aelita walking off.

"Guys, you know you could have found a spot for Aelita you know," scorned Jeremy looking back down at his laptop.

Odd gave a sigh, and sat down where Aelita was sitting. Then, William came up to the group and leaned against the bench.

"Hey you guys, what's happening?" asked William.

"Nothing much, we've started the Pop-Rock Progressives again!" smiled Odd.

"That's pretty cool Odd, anyway Yumi, I was wondering if we could have a talk some time later today?" asked William.

"Um, no. After what you did concerning my parents I don't really want to talk to you now, but then again, after you helping us on Lyoko so much I guess eventually we can talk but not today," sighed Yumi.

William gave a satisfied nod at Yumi and then William looked over at Jeremy.

"What 'cha up to Jeremy?" asked William looming over Jeremy's shoulder.

"Looking up the cause of Aelita's nightmares. I believe that her nightmares and the thing that X.A.N.A. gave her are connected somehow," said Jeremy typing into the laptop.

"Yes very interesting Einstein, but we should head to the gym now. Everyone will be waiting for auditions once I pass out the flyers," explained Odd running off to get prints for his announcements.

"That crazy guy sometimes," smirked Ulrich starting to walk towards the gym.

Everyone, including Jeremy, followed Ulrich to the gym to receive their auditions for the band's reboot. Meanwhile, Mason was scrambling around trying to find his bass guitar through all the mess that he called his closet. Mason soon found his bass case which was still locked from when he first arrived at Kadic, and then he found the key which was taped to the bottom of the case. Mason peeled the tape off the case, and used the key to unlock the black instrument case. When Mason opened the case, he was greeted with a slick, polished red bass with a smooth body frame. Mason ran his fingers up and down his baby, and then he proceeded to take it out of the case. Mason then found his amp for the base, and he dusted it off. Mason then plugged in everything, and Mason sat on his bed.

"Let's see if I still got the magic in my fingers," smiled Mason positioning the bass next to him.

Mason adjusted his tuning knobs of the bass, and began to play. He started with a low R&B and then went faster and faster to a modern rock. Mason then started to, despite the numerous warnings from his music instructor, let the bass wail. Suddenly someone took a peek into Mason's room to see him going crazy on the bass. When Mason finished playing, he looked up to see that Emily had somehow made her way into his room. Mason immediately blushed, and his eyes darted to the opposite wall.

"Aw, there was nothing to be ashamed of. That was really good," smiled Emily.

"Really?" smiled Mason.

"Mhm, in fact, I'm jealous," said Emily sitting down on the opposite side of Mason's bed.

"No, don't you play piano though? You were really good at the Christmas party," smiled Mason.

"Yeah, but I've always wanted to play a guitar or something except a silly, old piano," sighed Emily.

Mason's eyes darted right and then they darted left, and then they focused back on Emily, who gave a small giggle.

"Would you like to learn how to play guitar, or bass?" asked Mason.

"Really? I really would like to, but are you joking?" asked Emily.

"Um, no, not really," said Mason plucking the bass strings.

"Then YES PLEASE!" smiled Emily adjusting her glasses.

Mason gave a smile at Emily's sheer cuteness. Mason then scooted over and handed Emily the bass. Mason helped place the bass in Emily's arms, and in doing so Mason was touching Emily's hands.

"Oh my gosh, OH MY GOSH! HE'S TOUCHING MY HANDS! Okay Emily, get a grip! It's just him HOLDING MY HAND! Okay get back to reality! " thought Emily to herself.

"Her hands are soft," thought Mason scooting back over.

Emily felt the waxed finish of the bass, and she plucked the strings. The sweet, low sound almost soothed Emily, and she smiled as she tapped the bass which responded with a low echo.

"Nice isn't it?" smiled Mason.

Emily replied with a "Mhm" and put the strap around her shoulder. Mason then scooted behind Emily, and proceeded to places his fingers on the strings. At this time Emily was now freaking out about how close Mason was to her. Mason played the scale from the highest to the lowest note, and then handed the bass back to Emily.

"Now you see, when you're playing the bass, you have to remember that it's not the same instrument as a guitar," went on Mason scooting back over to the opposite side of the bed.

Meanwhile, Aelita was walking down the boy's hall of the dormitory. She walked slowly with her head to the ground. How could Odd tell her such a thing? Aelita felt left out, and she almost felt like crying. Then suddenly Aelita had an idea, and it was no regular idea. Aelita's head perked up as her epiphany occurred.

" If I were to make my own band, then Odd would have to crawl back!" schemed Aelita giving a small giggle, "Although I'll need help with forming a band," hummed Aelita drumming her fingers together.

"No, no, you're doing it all wrong," calmly sighed Mason, "Here, let me see it," urged Mason scooting back behind Emily.

Mason scooted so Emily was practically in his lap, and put his arms around Emily's in order to put his hands back on the bass to give a demonstration. Aelita heard Mason's bass playing down the hall, and immediately, ran down the hall to Mason's room. She decided at that moment that Mason should be in her band, and Aelita knocked on the door. Mason and Emily jerked up from the lesson and Emily immediately leapt out of Mason's lap. Emily and Mason looked around for a place for Emily to hide, and then Mason put Emily in the closet and closed the door behind him.

"Mason, may I come in?" asked Aelita tapping her boot.

"Oh um, yeah sure!" replied Mason opening the door for Aelita, "What's up?".

"Odd said I couldn't join his band," sighed Aelita.

"Um, why?" asked Mason folding his arms.

"Odd said that I "didn't fit the tune of the band" so, I plan on making my own band to show Odd how good I am!" smiled Aelita.

"So I'm assuming that you're here to ask me to join huh?" guessed Mason.

"Yeah! Please?" smiled Aelita.

"Hm, okay," shrugged Mason.

"Really? That easily? What about when you and Odd were arguing about it?" asked Aelita.

"I was for it but, It's just fun to mess with him," grinned Mason causing Aelita to giggle.

Mason took the bass case from the floor and opened it up, and then put the bass inside. Mason then closed the case and locked it. Mason picked up the strap to the case and slung it over his shoulder.

"Okay I'm ready to go!" said Mason tapping his foot.

"Well I'm going to go get my remixes from my room, so I'll meet you outside the gym!" smiled Aelita walking out of Mason's room.

When the door to Mason's room closed, Mason immediately dropped the case when he heard Emily giggle in the closet. Mason then ran to the closet and let Emily out.

"Whew that was close!" sighed Mason wiping his forehead in relief.

Emily gave a small giggle, and then readjusted her glasses which were out of place up from Mason putting her in the closet. Mason then put his hands on her shoulders, rotated her around, opened the door, and started to walk Emily down the hallway.

"It's nice that you came but it's time for you to go so I will see you later! Don't forget to come back if you want more bass lessons. Remember to brush your teeth and get plenty of exercise!" spoke Mason with words flying out of his mouth at lightning speed as Mason walked Emily through the hallway. Mason let go of Emily's shoulders when they reached the staircase.

The staircase area was dead silent for all the students were either in the mess hall or out in the courtyard. The silence was unbearable for Emily and this made her decide that she wanted to tell Mason something.

"You know Mason there's something I've wanted to say for a while now, and I want to say that I-" blushed Emily turning around to see that the there was no one behind her.

Mason had his bass on his back and he ran towards the gym as fast as he could.

"Aelita's going to be upset!" huffed Mason arriving at the front to see that Aelita was waiting for him with an impatient look on her face.

"Sorry got a little sidetracked, but I'm here now and that's all that matters!" grinned Mason wiping the sweat off his brow.

Aelita gave a smile and opened the door to the gym where the others were sitting in chairs as Claire was trying out for the band. The door closed abruptly behind Mason and Aelita which cause the Lyoko warriors to jump up and look in the direction of Aelita and Mason.

"Hey Aelita, what are you doing here?" asked Ulrich looking up from his magazine.

"Oh nothing much," evilly grinned Aelita as she set up her mixing board.

"Um, what are you doing Mason?" sat up Odd.

Mason didn't answer Odd and started to connect his bass into the amp.

"Oh no, you're starting your own band aren't you!?" gasped Odd.

"Yep," replied Mason strumming his bass.

"On no, no, no!" said Odd, "You were supposed to try out for our band!".

"Yeah, until you unjustly banned Aelita from being in the band," replied Mason putting the strap over his shoulder.

"You don't understand Mason, it's not that we're banning Aelita we're banning the type of music that she plays!" defended Odd.

Aelita gave an evil look at Odd, and then continued to set up her mixing table.

"Fine! Come on guys!" waved Odd, "We're going to show them how the music won't work!".

The others looked at each other, and got up. Not because Odd told them to, but because they needed the practice since it had been a few months since they last played. Suddenly, the door opened and Sissi with her two followers came through the door.

"Hey guys, I heard we're getting the band back together so I came with my drum sticks," said Nicholas holding his drumsticks out.

"Ah Nicholas, glad to see you here. We need you to get ready for our first practice!" smiled Odd escorting Nicholas to the stage.

Sissi and Herve found chairs and took a seat to watch the show. This was the only time Ulrich was slightly, ONLY slightly, glad to see Sissi's goons. Claire realized that the try-outs were probably going to be postponed so she left the gym. The Pop Rock Progressives got their equipment out and tuned their instruments.

"This is going to be good," smiled Sissi drumming her fingers together.

"For once I'm going to have to agree with Sissi," thought Jeremy to himself as he hunched over his chair.

Odd suddenly start playing guitar with Nicholas soon following behind with a drum beat. Ulrich then started to back up Odd on his piano. Yumi took the microphone and began to tap her foot. Suddenly, Yumi began to sing, and the beat followed flawlessly behind the vocals. The song was quick and contained a high beat with a thirty-second drum solo. When the song was over, Yumi put the mic back on the stand and looked over at Mason and Aelita.

"So what do you think?" asked Yumi.

"It's pretty good, but you're forgetting something," smiled Mason tapping the side of his head with his pointer finger.

"What?" asked Odd sitting on one of the large amps.

"You forgot to plug your guitar into the amp," replied Mason pointing at the amp.

Odd gave a small chuckle of embarrassment as he plugged his guitar into the base. Meanwhile a small group of people snuck into the gym and took seats for the show which was about to begin.

"You did well that first round Aelita and Mason, but let's see how you do one round two!" pointed Odd starting to play the guitar.

Ulrich and Yumi followed Odd's lead as the guitar echoed the sounds through the gym. Aelita began to beat on DJ mixing table and Mason followed shortly behind with a blaring bass. The music began to get louder and louder to the point where the baring tunes could be heard outside the gym. The music enticed the students outside to wander into the gym where the showdown was.

"Come on guys just give up and let Aelita in your band!" barked Mason strumming as fast as he could on the bass.

"Never!" barked back Odd.

"Then you leave me no choice!" replied Mason grabbing the microphone.

Everyone leaned in as if they were ready for Mason to start singing instead they got an announcement from Mason saying, "IF AELITA DN I DO WELL THEN SHE HAS TO BE IN THE BAND ISN'T THAT FAIR!?" Everyone yelled back in agreement and at that seconds Odd knew the band's fate would be sealed if they lost the battle. Everything went silent as the last few students filed into the gym and took a seat. Meanwhile outside Emily was walking down the courtyard looking down at the ground blushing stomping in a fury towards the gym.

"How could have he just run out like that!? I had something important to say to him!" growled Emily to herself as she stomped through the courtyard.

Suddenly, in Emily's fury, she had bumped into someone and causes them to fall nearly back as did she. Luckily the stranger caught her before she could fall to the ground.

"Hey easy there young lady," smiled a man helping her back up.

Emily looked up to see that it was Mason's uncle Dan except without his glasses. He was also smoking a cigarette which he had just taken out of his mouth to talk to Emily with ease. Dan leaned slightly to the front to gain eye contact with Emily.

"Oh hey there missy, you wouldn't happen to know Mason Laird so you?" asked Dan tapping the end of his cigarette.

"I do know a Mason Laird, and I know where he is if you want to follow me," explained Emily readjusting her glasses from the fall.

"Okay then, by the way I'm Mason's uncle Dan, but you can just call me Dan," smiled Dan putting the cigarette back in his mouth.

"Oh okay I'm Emily, I'm a friend of Mason's in class," smiled Emily.

Dan suddenly gave an evil, wicked smile, and then took a strong inhale of the cigarette which he then removed the cigarette to blow smoke out of his nostrils.

"Emily….Leduc?" smiled Dan returning the cigarette to its resting place.

"Yeah why?" asked Emily.

"Heh, nothing…I just remember seeing something about you in the school bulletin," lied Dan following Emily to the gym.

Inside, the Pop Rock Progressives were battling against Mason and Aelita on stage, and they were blasting one of the crowd's favorite songs "Mystery Girl". When the song finished, Aelita started up on the beats and Mason began playing bass following several beats behind the mix. The crowd began to cheer as Emily opened the door to the gym and let Dan in, but Mason didn't see them come in and kept on playing. Aelita threw in a disc scratching while Mason played the scale. Suddenly as if Mason got caught up in the moment he went to grab the microphone, but he smoothly pushed it away towards Yumi when he saw Emily and his uncle staring at him from down below the stand. The music suddenly stopped and Aelita and Mason looked over at Odd.

"Hmph, okay Mason, you win," smiled Odd causing the crowd to cheer, " but you have to join the band as well," the boy grinned pointing at Mason.

Mason looked back over at Aelita who gave a nod and Mason turned his head back around to face the Pop Rock Progressives.

"Okay fine, you got a deal," smirked Mason shaking Odd's hand.

Dan smiled as he leaned against the gym door and beckoned for Mason to come down from the stand. Mason jumped down from the stand and ran over to his uncle who put his hand on Mason's head, and began rubbing his hair in a rough way.

"So I heard you underwent an operation, AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!" barked Mason's uncle putting Mason in a headlock and giving Mason a hard noogie.

"Ah STOP! Yes, I'm sorry I didn't tell you! Let go!" ordered Mason attempting to get out of his uncles grasp.

"Also," smiled Dan ending his noogie terror on Mason's head," Is THAT Emily Leduc?" asked the sage of an uncle pointing over at Emily who was talking to some of her friends.

"Yeah so?" asked Mason slightly blushing.

"She's a real cutie Mason, have you asked her out yet? I know you've said you really like her so why don't you ask her out?" smiled Dan letting Mason go.

"It's a lot more complicated than that, but I'm considering doing it soon," muttered Mason fixing his hair and folding his arms while looking away.

"That's lovely! Now then are you ready to go?" smiled Dan scratching his head.

Ulrich noticed Mason talking to his uncle and decided to walk over and say hi. After all, Mason's uncle was sort of his own family member by the kindness and respect that Dan showed towards Ulrich his father never did. When Ulrich got over there he heard Dan say about getting ready to go.

"Hey what's going on?" asked Ulrich walking over putting his hands in his pockets.

"Oh hello Mr. Stern, me and Mason here are going to be moving into our new house," smiled Dan.

"Wait, I thought we were going to take the week off this week to look for one," gasped Mason.

"We were until I found the perfect one near this school so you don't have to be a border anymore, and I thought it would be best to take the house right away. After your exams we'll get all your stuff out of the dorm room and move in," replied Dan putting his hands in his jean pockets.

"Great, also, what happened to your glasses?" asked Mason.

"Laser eye surgery, and I noticed but you've gotten a bit taller haven't you?" smiled Dan putting his hand on Mason's head.

"Well, that makes two of us who had surgery," smirked Mason.

Dan gave a chuckle and then put out his cigarette on the bottom of his shoe and put his hands in his pockets. Suddenly Dan's watch beeped and Dan looked down to see it flashing.

"Damn, I got to go get packed up! Remember ask that Emily girl out and don't do drugs!" chuckled Dan running out the door and across campus.

Mason smiled and laughed at his uncle and then turned around to see the Lyoko warriors standing around Jeremy. Jeremy had his laptop open and his fingers were flying on the keyboard. Mason walked over and saw Jeremy staring at a coded screen.

"What's up Einstein?" asked Mason sitting in a chair.

"I have good news and bad news. Good news is that I've tracked down Aelita's glitch problem, but bas news there's some sort of firewall preventing me from getting the required data to fix it," explained Jeremy typing.

"So I'm assuming that we're going to have to go to Sector 5 to gain information on it?" asked Yumi folding her arms.

"That would be correct," nodded Jeremy.

"So tomorrow after exams we head into Sector 5 and barge into X.A.N.A.'s house?" asked Odd.

"Yeah but now we need to get going and…." Said Jeremy before having Jim interrupt his conversation.

"OH NO YOU DON'T YOU KIDS NEED TO CLEAN UP THIS GYM THIS INSTANT! YOU KNOW BETTER THAN TO USE THE GYM WITHOUT PERMISSION AND TO LEAVE SUCH A BIG MESS!" barked Jim handing them a broom and dust pan.

"Awww man!" barked the Lyoko Warriors.


	4. Big Brother and The Wolf

**Hey there folks, nice to be posting chapter after the horrendous experience of exams *dun dun dun duuun* anyway, this is the chapter where things start to get good. I was going to post this about 5 days ago but then stupid Microsoft word deleted my file here and chapter 3 of LR 2.0..anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter and expect another chapter soon...enjoy**

**Chapter 4: Big Brother and The Wolf**

The fourth day of exams came, and after that test, the summer break would then start. The Lyoko Warriors were in their usual spot, and Ulrich was reading one of Milly and Tamiya's magazine while the others were talking about their plans for break.

"So Mason, when were you going to tell us you were moving into town?" asked Yumi.

"Well if you would have told William what was going on with you and Ulrich then I would have said something sooner," replied Mason giving a smirk.

Aelita and Odd gave small smirks but Yumi only responded with a glare. Ulrich flipped a page in the magazine and sighed.

"What's wrong Ulrich?" asked Odd, "Did Sissi post a personal ad requesting your undying love?"

"No it's not that, it's just these advertisements being shown in the magazine. I've seen them all around town recently and not to mention every time I go online. I feel like I can't go anywhere without the ad being thrown into my face," explained Ulrich flipping the paper around to show the advertisement.

The ad covered the entire page and included a shield as a symbol with the word "Legatus Security Corp." with the cheesy slogan of "Securing Your Tomorrow…Today!". The colors of the page were red and gold, and the mascot included a roman solider holding a sword and shield pointing it to the left as if charging into battle.

"Oh yeah, my uncle sad on the phone last night that three representatives came to the apartment and asked if he wanted to buy a security plan. My uncle wasn't very amused being woken at 5 in the morning so he slammed the door on them," chuckled Mason being handed the magazine by Ulrich.

"I don't blame them for advertising their product, it's an excellent security system which claims to have an un-hackable internet security data base. Plus, I heard that you can't disarm the alarms unless you get an employee to disarm it for you. Should I mention that this company now has made an extremely high profit as well as having a very expensive stock for all the revenue its accumulated since its opening and promising of flawless security." said Jeremy peeking at the advertisement.

"How would you know all this information Jeremy?" asked Odd.

"My computer magazine I get every month," replied Jeremy.

"Ah," spoke Odd in an unsurprised tone.

The bell suddenly rang for class, and all the warriors got up and got ready to head for exams. They were just about to get going when Jim walked over to them.

"All students need to report to the gym immediately for an announcement!" spoke Jim putting his hands on his waist.

"What about exams?" asked Aelita.

"The exams will be put off until tomorrow, and at their regular time," explained Jim getting a response of "Awww" and "that's not fair!".

"GET GOING!" barked Jim.

At the gym, all the students began to take seats. The Lyoko warriors sat near the front of the gym while a row of sat right behind the warriors. After the students got seated, Mr. Delmas walked out from behind the curtain and took the microphone.

"Attention students, as you may know we were supposed to have exams today. Instead, we have a very special guest here to talk to you all about the brand-new upgrades that were just donated to our school!" announced Mr. Delmas welcoming someone onto the stage.

A bald man walked on the stage. He was wearing a black business suit with a red tie and a golden shirt. His left wrist was adorned with a Rolex watch.A platinum ring on the thumb of his right hand. He had a short, trimmed beard which the mustache was missing from its place. The man wore sunglasses and a smirk as he walked on the stage with a metallic suitcase which he placed on the podium. He opened the suitcase and took out a small slide show projector and a clicker. He received the microphone which Mr. Delmas eagerly put int his hands.

"Hello children, my name is Samuel Mattock. You may know me as the man to interrupted your valuable exam time, but I am really the CEO of Legatus Security Corp." introduced Mattock adjusting his sunglasses.

The Lyoko warriors were slightly shocked about the coincidence of just talking about Legatus, and now the CEO of the booming corporation is now only feet before them. Mattock turned on the projector and then began clicking until he got to the very exact ad that the warriors were talking about earlier.

"Legatus….the term for the roman general of the army. The only thing that surpassed his command was Caesar who was commander and chief over all troops. This represents the values of our company, for we surpass all others and yet only answer to one thing. That one thing is the customers which rely on us to bring top-notch security to their lives and possessions," explained Mattock clicking to the next slide.

While Mattock went on about how the security system worked. Mason received a poke on the back, but decided to ignore it. Eventually the poking got hard enough that Mason couldn't take it anymore and he turned around slightly in his seat to see his favorite back-haired lady jerking her hand back in surprise.

"Oh, sorry about that…" apologized Emily.

"What is it?" whispered Mason.

"Remember about 7 months ago when we went out shopping?" asked Emily.

"Yeah, but why are you bringing this up now?" asked Mason raising an eyebrow.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go again…" smiled Emily turning rosy.

Mason turned slightly pink at Emily's suggestion and then nodded.

"Uh… yeah…. sure," smiled Mason.

"You should turn around now before you get into trouble," smiled Emily.

Mason heeded Emily's advice and then turned back around to hear what the CEO of the overly advertised company had to say.

"So, due to corporation's belief that it is necessary to extend our aid to the public, we've installed brand new security measures all over campus! Also, I've taken the liberty to install TV sets for your cafeteria and in a few of the classrooms," happily announced the CEO.

"What!?" gasped all the Lyoko Warriors.

Everyone around them applauded and cheered for the generous gift as the CEO walked off the stage and Mr. Delmas resumed his speaking.

"That is it for the day children so be ready for exams tomorrow," nodded Delmas dismissing the students.

Outside, the Lyoko warriors watched as the few staff finished setting up the camera and speakers on the top of the cafeteria doors. The security employees then got down from the ladder and started packing up in the van. Meanwhile, Mattock was talking to one of his assistants while the van began to pull away.

"Um sir, why are we helping this school with simple tech cameras and security provisions?" asked he assistant looking over the list of materials given to the school.

"It's quite simple, why do we sell security software and systems?" asked Mattock looking at data over his smart phone.

"Um, to make money sir?" replied the assistant.

"That would be correct, and what happens when the systems become outdated or broken?" asked Mattock.

"Then we go send people to…fix them?" responded the assistant.

"Yes and then what happens when we get people to fix them? We make more money by having them fixed. Now imagine the number a "free" cameras and security software we had installed for this school, over 50 pieces of security hardware. Now the average customer only buys 1-5 cameras and only one copy of the software, but this school multiplies that number by 10. A plus as well is when other schools hear of this then they'll want to purchase security as well," explained Mattock.

"Oh, um good idea sir," nodded the assistant walking over to Mattock's limousine, and opening the door.

Mattock agreed to his own genius and then got into the back seat and then closed the door. The assistant then got into the driver's side and started the car. Mattock rolled down the window which was separating Mattock's side of the limo to the assistant's side.

"By the way I'll need a full report of the profit margin here will be by the end of the week," ordered Mattock.

"Yes sir," mumbled the assistant driving off of Kadic grounds.

Meanwhile Mr. Delmas stared at the computer installed in his office which covered his desk with the software and video screen showing all cameras on campus. Mr. Delmas flipped through the instruction manual and found the button to turn on the cameras. He switched on the cameras which suddenly came to life with blinking red lights and began focusing on objects. One of the cameras then looked down at the Lyoko warriors who just stared back not amused.

"This is a problem," spoke William.

"Yeah I know, how on Earth am I supposed to sneak out now?" asked Odd feeling threatened by the new security.

"I agree with William, and no Odd, that there is a problem. Now that there are cameras everywhere we will have an even harder time getting from school to the factory and back again," worried Jeremy readjusting his glasses.

"Should we not talk about the factory here?" asked Yumi.

"It'll be okay, those cameras aren't equipped with any microphones," assured Jeremy adjusting his glasses.

"Well yeah, but it still poses a threat since we can't sneak off to the forest without being spotted," replied William staring up at the camera which was now focused on the group.

The others imitated William's action and looked up at the camera which zoomed in and out on them. On the other side of the camera, Mr. Delmas was playing around with the camera joy-stick remote. While Delmas fiddled with the remote, Jim came in and closed the door behind him. Mr. Delmas did not see the gym teacher come in or else he would have put the remote down, but instead kept playing with the remote as if he was playing a video game.

"Um excuse me sir," spoke Jim trying to prevent the scene from becoming any more awkward.

Mr. Delmas jerked his head fast enough that his glasses nearly came off his face. He put the remote down to the side, fixed his glasses, and retrieved his stately posture for the gym teacher.

"Yes Jim what is it I was testing the new security system," lied Mr. Delmas twiddling his thumbs on the desk.

"Well the students are asking me what is going to happen with the rest of the day due to the unexpected assembly, and I was hoping that you'd tell me what to tell them," explained Jim.

"Well, um, tell the students that they need to study, and they are allowed off campus today although it is exam week," responded the principal eager to return to messing with the cameras.

"Okay, sorry to disturb you sir," replied Jim leaving Delmas to play with the joy-stick.

Back out at the courtyard, the Lyoko warriors were sitting around the bench plotting a way to disarm the cameras. Jeremy sat typing on the laptop with Aelita sitting next to him. Yumi sat with Ulrich while the others stood or leaned on the bench.

"What if we were to put a picture over the cameras that could show us going into the forest?" suggested Odd.

"Well that would work if the cameras didn't have a instant recording feature with playback," replied Jeremy continuing to type on the laptop.

"How about if we could try to reposition the cameras so they can't see us go into the forest?" asked Mason texting on the phone.

"Like I said, the recording feature is going to be the problem at this time, but not to worry, I am currently assessing the situation and coming up with a solution," informed Jeremy inserting a jump drive into the side of the laptop.

"That's our Einstein, sees a problem and tries to come up with a solution," smirked Odd.

After a few minutes Jeremy removed the jump drive and held it up with pride. Jeremy gave a small smirk and then closed his laptop. Jeremy then got up from the bench and the others gathered around him.

"This jump drive contains a code which will integrate into the administrative system of the system operations and-" went on Jeremy.

"IN ENGLISH!" barked the others.

"Oh yeah, um this jump drive will end the recording of the cameras as well as let me look at what the cameras see," explained Jeremy getting to the point.

"Great job Einstein," said Mason taking his eyes off his cellphone, "how are we going to get it into Mr. Delmas' office though?"

"Well….I was thinking that since you Ulrich had the advantage of convincing Sissi to do things for you I thought that…" went on Jeremy.

"No way Jeremy, Ulrich said himself that he would no longer do that stuff with Sissi," huffed Yumi crossing her arms.

"Yumi, I have to do it this last time..." sighed Ulrich looking over at Yumi.

Yumi furrowed her eyebrows at Ulrich and gave a small glare, but before she could say anything about what Ulrich said, he walked over to Yumi and held her hands.

"Look Yumi, I understand that you feel jealous whenever I have to whore myself off to Sissi," softly spoke Ulrich then glaring at Jeremy and then Odd, "but I promise that you will never have to worry about me running off with Sissi because she isn't exactly my type and I have no reason to give up my dream girl for her," the German boy smiled.

"AWWW HOW BEAUTIFUL, nice one Ulrich!" smiled Odd sticking out his tongue and giving a thumbs up.

Yumi couldn't be mad anymore after what Ulrich just said, and instead of being angry she blushed a light red and then removed her hands from Ulrich's.

"Okay, but that would mean Mason would need to go with you," sighed Yumi still blushing.

"I'm happy that you understand Yumi," smiled Ulrich.

"Okay sure," replied Mason texting on his phone.

Ulrich nodded at Mason and then looked over at Jeremy.

"What will you guys do while Mason and I go plant the jump drive?" asked Ulrich.

"Me and the others will go to the factory the long way," explained Jeremy adjusting his glasses.

"Well if there is another way to the factory, why not just take that way?" asked William tapping his boot.

"The longer path includes going all the way around to the actual factory entrance without the use of sewer systems. This was takes much longer, about 35 minutes, as compared to the 10 minutes it takes to get to the factory with the use of sewer systems. We cannot afford the extra minutes it takes to the factory when others are on the line," spoke Jeremy.

"Okay, okay no reason to get all serious," eased William raising his hands.

"Okay you two go plant the drive, and we'll head to the factory," smiled Aelita summing things up.

"OKAY!" smiled Ulrich and Mason running off.

Mason and Ulrich ran as fast as they could until they reached the office sections of the building. They took a second to regain their breath and then they went into details on how they would plant the jump drive into the security computer.

"Okay, you'll stick around to see if anyone passes by, and I'll…..go convince Sissi to let me see her father," shuttered Ulrich.

"SIR YES SIR!" smirked Mason standing at attention.

Ulrich rolled his eyes at Mason's foolishness and then ran off to the cafeteria to find Sissi. Mason began to look around the office building, shrugged his shoulders, and then felt his cellphone vibrate. Mason assumed that no other teachers were around and then went back to texting on his phone. Meanwhile Ulrich arrived at the cafeteria in so much haste that he had to stop and take a moment to breathe. After regaining some air, Ulrich looked around to see if Sissi was around. For the only time that Ulrich could ever recall, he was actually worried that Sissi wasn't there. He looked around and then saw Emily, and Emily would probably know where Sissi was. Ulrich walked up to Emily to see that she was texting on her cellphone. Ulrich strolled up to Emily and she immediately jerked her head to look at Ulrich.

"Hey Emily I was wondering if you knew were Sissi would be," asked Ulrich scratching his head.

"I think the last time I saw her she and those other two were heading to the rec room," replied Emily slipping the phone into her pocket.

"Okay thanks," nodded Ulrich walking away towards the rec room.

Meanwhile, Mason had checked the perimeter of the building for a second time when his cellphone vibrated again. Suddenly a shadow loomed over the boy which he immediately took notice. When he looked up to see who it was it was Jim looking at him with his arms crossed.

"You mind telling me what you're doing here Laird?" growled Jim.

Mason quickly hid the phone behind his back since he didn't want Jim making a list of things Mason was doing wrong then. Mason then gulped knowing that he had gotten himself into some trouble. At the rec room, Ulrich had just entered the rec room to see that no one was in there except for Sissi and her goons who were watching a new soap opera "To Barcelona and Back".

"Come on Sissi, can we at least check the soccer game for a few seconds?" begged Nicholas.

"NOOO!" growled Sissi clinging to the remote.

"Ahem," coughed Ulrich trying to get Sissi's attention.

Sissi turned around to see Ulrich have his hands in his pockets and then look towards the door. Ulrich now knew that there was no turning back. Sissi jumped out of the couch and tossed the remote to the duo who immediately turned it to the soccer game.

"ULRICH IT'S SO GOOD TO SEE YOU!" smiled Sissi.

Ulrich cringed at the sound of Sissi's voice. He had to keep telling himself that it was for a greater cause, and this would be the last time or at least that's what he promised himself.

"Hey Sissi I'm glad I found you here," lied Ulrich, "I really need your help in doing something,"

"Anything for you Ulrich, what is it?" smiled Sissi happy that the heart-throb of the school was actually talking to her.

"Yeah um, well the thing is that…I really need to speak with your dad and since he won't see me on a regular basis I was wondering if you could…," went on Ulrich twiddling his thumbs.

"Oh no you don't! You can't just keep coming in here willy-nilly and just use me for your own needs. What's in it for me if I were to help you?" asked Sissi in an irritated tone while putting her hands on her hips.

"Well," went on Ulrich putting his hands in his pockets.

Ulrich dug around in his pockets to touch the jump drive to soothe his anxiety, but it wasn't there. Ulrich's eyebrows raised and his heart stopped. He desperately dug his hands around his pockets, but tried not to let Sissi know and yet there was no jump drive. Ulrich began to panic and know he had to get out of there to look for the jump drive.

"You know what Sissi, you're right about asking for something in return. I realize that I was dumb to realize you couldn't be a decent enough person to just be nice so I'm going to leave," snickered Ulrich leaving the rec room without letting Sissi know that underneath he was in total panic.

After striding out of the rec room Ulrich burst into a sprint towards the office building. A million things flew through his mind about what could have possibly happened with that jump drive. What if it fell out of his pocket? What if Jim found it, or worse, Delmas found it? Ulrich finally reached the office building which seemed to take forever, and at the front of the office he saw Mason texting and smiling.

"MASON! WE HAVE A PROBLEM!" gasped Ulrich stopping and breathing.

"I don't know what you're talking about," went on Mason putting the phone away.

"The jump drive it's-" went on Ulrich before he was interrupted.

"- with me, Jim found me out front and asked what I was doing and I said that I was waiting for Delmas who I needed to talk about my new living arrangements. So, Jim took me to him and we fixed that problem, and when Delmas went to copy some papers I snuck the jump drive behind the security computer. Don't forget that Jeremy gave ME the jump drive not you because he was worried you'd lose it," smirked Mason putting his hands into the coat pockets.

Ulrich's jaw dropped when Mason explained. After a second of sheer shock, Ulrich began to laugh in relief. Ulrich walked over to Mason and patted his shoulder and stopped laughing. Mason smirked at Ulrich realizing that for a second that Ulrich actually thought that he had the jump drive.

"Mason besides Jeremy and Aelita, you may the smartest out of the group," chuckled Ulrich patting Mason's back.

Mason gave a chuckle as he and Ulrich looked up one of the cameras pointed at them. Meanwhile at the factory, Jeremy saw that a new window opened which all the cameras were shown. Jeremy cracked his knuckles and proceeded to turn off the recording function and then pause the cameras which were in the way of the duo getting to the factory. Ulrich's cellphone then rang the ringtone which he had assigned to Jeremy's phone number. Ulrich answered it to hear Einstein's voice on the other end.

"Hey Ulrich I've just redirected the camera footage to my computer, you are now invisible to the cameras," smiled Einstein.

"Thanks Jeremy we'll be there in a minute," smiled Ulrich clicking the end button on the cellphone.

Ulrich looked over at Mason and gave a nod. Mason took this as Jeremy fixed their camera problem and he and Ulrich proceeded to run to the factory. Jeremy viewed the cameras that Ulrich and Mason got into the forest safely and proceeded to save the camera footage to a file in the supercomputer. When Mason and Ulrich got into the factory, Jeremy told the others to go ahead to the scanners to get virtualized. By the time that Mason and Ulrich took the elevator down to the scanner room, the others were already on Lyoko.

"Go ahead and get into the scanners you two, the others are waiting for you," explained Jeremy typing in the information to transfer the two onto Lyoko.

After the transferring process, Mason and Ulrich appeared on Sector 5 of Lyoko. They looked around to see that no one else was there at the moment.

"The others have already gone through the inner chamber and are already on the outer area of the core to get the information, so you'll have to get there," explained Jeremy virtualizing their vehicles.

Mason and Ulrich got on their vehicles and proceeded to the coordinates which Jeremy had instructed them to go to. They reached the location to see that the others were gathered around Aelita who had just gotten into the system to get the information needed.

"How nice of you two gentlemen to join us," smiled Yumi.

Ulrich nodded while Mason looked around in the vast, open sea of data code and information. Aelita remained silent as she went through the constant stream of information which opened on the screen. Odd tapped his foot impatiently as the silence nearly killed him.

"Okay, where's X.A.N.A.? I'm itching to beat up a creeper or two so I don't have to be bored to death," whined Odd rolling his eyes and throwing his hands up.

"Take it easy Odd, X.A.N.A. must have known you were bored there are a few creeper in the core area right now attempting to attack it as well as a few mantas.

"WOHOO! Time to get moving!" shouted Odd jumping on the Overboard.

"Easy there Odd, don't get too excited because the others are coming with you, well except for Aelita and William," spoke Jeremy.

"Aw, I bet I could take 'em all myself!" spoke Odd throwing a few air punches.

Odd zoomed off on the Overboard while the others followed leaving William and Aelita alone to do their work.

"So, how's your and Jeremy's relationship coming along?" asked William tapping the dull end of his sword on his back.

Aelita jerked at that question. The only time really anything happened was when Mason and Apollo barged into Jeremy's room. Aelita lightly blushed at the thought of it, and shook it off.

"Well I –um," went on Aelita before the screen flashed red.

"Aelita! What's going on?" asked Jeremy returning from a quick bathroom break.

"The access to the files are denied!" gasped Aelita moving several windows out of the way.

Jeremy attempted to override the data but all the codes he input were denied. Jeremy slightly panicked before he realized that he still had Franz Hopper's notes. He quickly flipped through yet there was nothing. Jeremy scratched his head in confusion. X.A.N.A. had no access to the main frame files, and yet even in the notes he couldn't find a code to input. Suddenly an ac ii image appeared on the supercomputer monitor as well as on Aelita's touch screen. The ac ii image included a wolf howling and the acronym W.O.L.F. appeared below it. Jeremy adjusted his glasses and returned to the char in order to get a closer look at what it was. The acronym spelt out Weapon Operations Liberation Factor. Jeremy read the code at the bottom of the image and then quickly put his headset back on.

"Aelita, do you see this!? I've never seen this before ever!" stuttered Jeremy adjusting his glasses.

"I do Jeremy, and wow I haven't ever seen this before either!" smiled Aelita finding the file.

"Don't touch anything before I have a look at it. We have no idea what this program is," cautioned Jeremy beginning to type on the supercomputer.

Aelita heard what Jeremy said, but she was for some reason drawn to activate the program. She couldn't control herself and it was like something else took over her for she entered the code to activate the program. William looked in shock.

"HEY AELITA!" gasped William before he saw Sector 5 go black.

The others had finished killing the monsters before Sector 5 went black. The core of Lyoko gave off a dim light as the world around them was covered in darkness.

"Hey Einstein, I think Lyoko just broke," said Odd scratching his head.

Jeremy didn't say anything but just stared at the blank screen, suddenly the supercomputer rebooted and Sector 5 went back to its usual blue color.

"Oh never mind," smirked Odd.

"Now why did you go and do that Aelita?" asked William regaining his senses.

Aelita stood there blankly looking at the screen and then shook her head.

"I don't know, something just told me to do it and I couldn't stop myself. It was as if something was controlling me and forcing me to press it," explained Aelita.

"Whatever you guys, it seems your problem is gone Aelita so I'll just devirtualize all of you," explained Jeremy typing.

Before Jeremy could finish typing, the computer automatically finished the code sequence and devirtualized all of them before Jeremy could even get half done with the code. When everyone was devirtualized the all gathered in the scanner room.

"Hey guys come up here! You might want to see this," explained Jeremy.

They all hastily got up the stairs and then met up in the monitor room to see Jeremy smiling at the screen. When they all took a peek the screen looked as if it got an upgrade. The files were all neatened and straight and there was a file which listed all the codes which could be input into the supercomputer. The background was the same ac ii image with the wolf howling in the background and code surrounded it scrolling on and off the screen.

"Wow this is incredible!" smiled Yumi.

"Yeah I'll have to look at it later, but until then we better leave. I'd rather not get into seeing what this W.O.L.F. program is…," said Jeremy scratching his head.

"Whew okay Einstein, but how about for now we head back to Kadic," sighed William stretching out.

Jeremy nodded in agreement and clicked the supercomputer monitor off, and then hopped off the chair. All the gang headed into the elevator. Ulrich clicked the button going up on the elevator and the doors closed. The lights switched off in the monitor room and everything was silent. A few hours later, the lights flickered back on and the screen turned itself on. Suddenly the W.O.L.F. ac ii returned and then the words "RECORDING AND GATHERING COMPLETE" as files on the computer were organized into emails and then sent.


	5. Exposed

**DUN DUN DUNNNN! Here's another chapter! Btw if I haven't said already, I am currently searching for a new beta reader to read my chapters before I post them to get corrections done and content looked at. Plus, little bonus for a possible upcoming project including a certain pipsqueak alchemist...anyway enjoy!**

**Chapter 5: Exposed**

Due to the previous day's strange encounters, Jeremy had stayed up all night looking at the new program and it's features. This resulted in Jeremy, yet again, being deprived of food, water, and sleep. Mason woke up first and tapped Jeremy on the shoulder waking him up, and the usual routine commenced. After getting clothes on and brushing hair, Mason and Jeremy headed down to the cafeteria, or mess hall as Ulrich and Odd liked to call it. The others were already sitting down and enjoying breakfast as Jeremy and Mason sat down with their food.

"Hey there guys, how did you sleep?" asked Ulrich chewing on a croissant.

"I didn't sleep a wink, at least not until 6 in the morning," replied Jeremy rubbing the bit of sleep in his eyes.

"Okay so the usual for you Einstein, what about you Mason?" asked Ulrich.

"Well I slept some, but then I got into a text chat with someone," replied Mason putting some egg in his mouth.

"OOOOOOOOOOOO," smiled Odd getting into Mason's personal space.

"Yeah, who were you texting?" asked Aelita getting close to Mason.

Odd and Aelita began to invade Mason's personal space by getting extremely close to his face, and this made Mason uncomfortable so he had to scoot back to get some air. Mason thought about whether he should lie or not, but instead he decided to come clean about who he has texted and what his intentions are.

"Well, I've been texting Emily….you know….Emily Leduc.. for a few days…..and I think I'll ask her to go steady with me soon," spoke Mason telling the truth, or what his friends needed to know at the time.

"OOOOOO EMILY!" grinned Odd.

Mason smacked his hand over Odd's mouth and then the universal sign of "shut the hell up". Mason took his hand off of Odd's mouth which left a red mark over Odd's mouth. Odd took a moment to breathe and then gave a huge cartoon-like grin towards Mason.

"She is right over there so SHHHHHH!" hushed Mason looking where Emily was sitting with her friends.

"Aw that's really nice Mason," smiled Yumi.

Mason gave a slight blush and then scratched the back of his head. The gang then looked over at Emily who suddenly felt like someone was watching her. When she turned around she saw the entire party of the table staring at her. Emily looked over at Mason in confusion and Mason just shrugged, and then the gang went back to eating their breakfast.

"Try to not creep her out before I ask her please," mumbled Mason.

The others, especially Odd, gave evil smiles and nodded. Before any more damage could be done, the bell rang signaling that the last exam had arrived. Jim came into the cafeteria with a TV and a screwdriver underneath his arm. Jim placed the TV in the corner of the cafeteria and then used the screwdriver to attach the TV to a stand sitting on the wall.

"There that's the last of them Mr. Delmas," chuckled Jim wiping the sweat off his brow.

"A job well done Jim, I'm excited to turn on the TVs after the exam," smiled Mr. Delmas.

"Me too Mr. Delmas, I can't wait to turn the channel to KUNG-FU ACTION MARATHON FEATURING BRUCE LEE AND JACKIE CHAN!" shouted Jim doing a kung-fu punch and kick.

Mr. Delmas furrowed his eyebrows at Jim's suggestion of what the TVs should be set to show during school hours. The students files out of the cafeteria and into their respective classrooms. The last class for Yumi, Mason, and William was their literature exams, and the others was Ms. Hertz's science exam. The students took their seats in their desks and then Jim walked in.

"Hello students, nice to see you again for another exam. Since I've heard reports of cheating in this class I will be monitoring your exam," smiled Jim closing the door.

Odd took a heavy gulp and took out a pencil. The other students then got ready by taking their pencils out as well, and Jim wrote the time on the board.

"Okay the test will start….NOW!" said Jim checking his watch.

The test had begun and pretty soon pencils began flying in Ms. Hertz's classroom. After an hour and thirty minutes, the elders of the group had finished their tests early so he teacher permitted them to go into the cafeteria until the time given for the exams were over. William, Yumi, and Mason took a seat the at the usual spot and looked up to see that the TVs were working now, and the only channel being shown was the news. Soon, the younger Lyoko warriors and the rest of their class finished their exams early.

"Okay students, we'll use our brand new TVs to watch the news then," said Ms. Hertz clicking on the TV with the remote.

Five minutes passed with watching the news when the students began putting interest on other things. Some decided to draw in notebooks while others talked. Sissi decided to stare at Ulrich which creeped Ulrich out, and Jeremy looked at a piece of paper he had in front of him.

"Hey Jeremy, what's that?" asked Odd peeking over Jeremy's shoulder.

"Oh, it's the notes I took on W.O.L.F.," replied Jeremy.

Ulrich looked over at Jeremy and Odd and scooted over to be part of the conversation. It was better than having Sissi stare a hole in the back of his head.

"So what'd you find out about it?" asked Ulrich.

"Well, it serves as an anti-virus program for the supercomputer. Also, I found out that it helps to run the code processed by the supercomputer. For some reason though the program was purposely integrated pretty deep into the supercomputer system and has recently come back out," explained Jeremy tapping his fingers on the desk.

"Ah, well, good luck with that then," smirked Ulrich sketching in his notebook.

The Lyoko warriors suddenly heard coughing behind them and they turned around to see Emily coughing into her elbow. She readjusted her glasses and then went back to reading a book.

"Do you think that Emily likes Mason back?" smiled Odd.

"I won't say anything, but me and Emily actually talked for a bit before exams started," smiled Ulrich finishing his sketch.

"Oh really?" asked Aelita peeking over at Ulrich's sketch of Yumi.

"Yeah, but what we talked about is hush-hush," smirked Ulrich scratching his head.

"Aw come on Ulrich, you're killing me with the suspense!" snickered Odd.

Before Ulrich could reply to Odd's foolishness, the news suddenly flashed to a breaking news bulletin. It went to a news reporter sitting behind the desk looking through papers.

"What do you think is up?" asked Odd.

"Probably just a fire or a car accident," replied Jeremy making corrections on written code on a piece of paper.

"They say that there are heroes everywhere among us. From the police officer to the firefighter, and even an average Joe who would help feed the homeless, but what about the exaggerated heroes found in comic books?"

"What is this reporter talking about?" asked William getting food in the cafeteria line.

"Hell if I know," replied Mason.

"Well what if those heroes found in comic books were found in today's society? What if they lived in secret? Last night, an unknown source gave us these files on camera recording these unknown heroes in action. These heroes have been identified as Kadic students Ulrich Stern, Odd Della Robia, Jeremy Belpois, Aelita Stones, Yumi Ishiyama, William Dunbar, and Mason Laird. These kids use a computer in an unknown site to go into a virtual world to defend the world from an evil virus named X.A.N.A. who serves to attempt to destroy everything in its path,"

At this time the Lyoko warriors had their mouths wide open as they saw the reporter speak about their secret life. In Ms. Hertz class, everyone had their mouths open and eyes glued to the shown clips of the heroes on Lyoko. More clips flashed on the TV about the gang on Lyoko from Aelita using her wings to defeat a megatank to when Mason used his ability to lift a Krab over his head. In the cafeteria, Rose stared at the TV in shock and let the coffee overflow in Mason's cup while the trio had their mouths open and staring at the TV as well.

"We have the footage given by the unknown source, but it seems as if several attacks were issued by this X.A.N.A. and every single attack had been stopped by these regular school kids. Plus, they manage their school lives at the same time. That is all we can report at the time and expect more on the topic later at 7," finished the reporter.

The TV went back to its regular news as the school was silent. Ms. Hertz turned from the TV and looked right at the Lyoko warriors who were in her classroom while the other students did as well.

"Well, I don't know about you guys but I think…WE should go," suggested Odd as the others got up.

"Yeah, we definitely should…you know how it is….we just ordinary kids excited about our break…..yep just regular kids," replied Ulrich starting to walk out the door.

Jeremy and Aelita then followed them and shut the door. The Lyoko warriors then looked at each other and then ran to the cafeteria. At the cafeteria, William had just snapped out of his trance and looked over at Mason and Yumi who were still staring at the TV as if the breaking news was still playing. They finally drifted their eyes down to William and closed their mouths.

"So…," spoke William very softly.

"Yeeaaahhh," spoke back Mason as if something were stuck in his throat.

Yumi looked at both of them and nodded. The three then dashed out of the cafeteria only to meet up with the rest of the group.

"What the hell is going on Jeremy!?" yelled Mason nearly about to shake the boy.

"I don't know! I thought I disarmed the cameras to the factory, but how did the news get the clips of us on Lyoko?" asked Jeremy rubbing his head.

The group then saw Jim run up to them and he didn't look happy, yet he didn't look angry either. He took a second to catch his breath and then stood up to look at the group.

"I don't know what's going on with you kids, but Mr. Delmas wants to see you now, and he won't take no as an answer," explained Jim urging the students along.

Meanwhile, at the front of the gate, the parents of the Lyoko warriors were about tempted to nearly trample down poor Mr. Delmas who was there to attempt and calm down the parents.

"Please calm down ," urged Mr. Delmas.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN!?" yelled Mr. Stern nearly turning red in the face.

"I have to agree with Mr. Stern, we have no reason to calm down after seeing what was on the news today about our children!" replied Mrs. Ishiyama with her husband's arm around her shoulder.

"Yeah!" barked Mr. Della Robia, "All I wanted to do was get our kid for vacation and now this mess pops up, yeah it's cool, but it's dangerous," he explained with his wife nodding in agreement.

The parents began yelling and overpowering Mr. Delmas when a whistle sound arose causing them to calm down. The parents turned around to see Mason's Uncle, Daniel Laird light a cigarette and put it in his mouth. Behind him was Mr. Belpois having the same intention as Mr. Della Robia. He then walked to the front of the group of tormented parents and stared Delmas square in the eye. Mr. Delmas felt slightly threatened and took a step back. Daniel then took a deep breath and then let out a puff of smoke from his lips.

"Listen, I want to hear from my nephew what the hell is going on with this entire mess. Me and my new friend Micheal Belpois here are going to take it to a more civilized level than these hooligans," nodded Dan removing the cigarette from his lips to release the rest of the smoke.

Mr. Delmas then saw the group of students come up to the gate and stand in front of their parents. The children swallowed deeply as their parents looked at them with glares.

"Hey mom and dad," smiled Odd.

"Ulrich, what is going on?" asked Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar walking up to their son.

The parents, and uncle, then ran to their kids and began asking them a million questions. Mr. Delmas was curious to know what was going on as well so he leaned in to overhear some of the conversation.

"Well, I bet your all wondering if this incident is true or not, so please tell us Miss Stones if it is or not," asked Mr. Delmas very politely.

Aelita looked over at Jeremy who quickly nodded in agreement to prevent being seen. Aelita then gave a small smile and then spoke up.

"Yes it is true, and I'd understand that you may think that this is dangerous but we're actually safe in doing this. We have been fighting this X.A.N.A. for about two years now, and we've done so before X.A.N.A. could hurt or permanently harm anyone," explained Aelita.

"Yeah uncle, although you may think that the best way to fix this is to turn off the computer, but if we do then X.A.N.A. will still attack. At this point, it is best if we just keep the supercomputer on and fight this thing until we can beat it forever," explained Mason.

Mason's uncle stared at Mason the same way the other parents stared at Aelita. They both felt very nervous for their seniors could have any reaction. Dan puffed cigarette smoke and then gave a smirk at Mason, and the ruffed his hair.

"I trust them," smiled Daniel.

"What!? Are you crazy!?" gasped the other parents.

Dan took the cigarette from his mouth and then waved it around as he walked over to Aelita. He then put his hand on Aelita's shoulder which made her feel slightly uncomfortable. Dan then looked down at her and gave a small smirk before rasing his head to speak with the other cornerned persons.

"Look at these kids, they've been doing this mess for, as they said, two years now. I don't see a scratch on them do you? If they don't have any scratches on 'em then I say that they are good enough at this battle against this threat, and that they need to be trusted to continue it until the threat is gone," explained Darius smiling at Aelita.

Aelita didn't feel uncomfortable anymore and she smiled back at Dan as he put the cigarette back in his mouth.

"That doesn't mean that it's safe," replied Mr. Stern furrowing his eyebrows.

"Yeah, it probably isn't safe. Look at these kids though! They seem pretty smart for their age if they've gotten this far and yet not have any major problems or have gotten anyone hurt," Dan explained.

"The question is what if they DO get hurt eventually?" asked Mrs. Stern crossing her arms.

"Well, I have an idea. What about a compromise?" butted in Mr. Belpois taking up Daniel's side of the argument.

"Yeah, I can see why your son is pretty smart Belpois, anyway if our kids get hurt then they have to surrender the battle over to the officials," smiled Daniel.

The other parents then grouped ad talked to themselves for a moment then turned back around towards their children.

"That sounds like a plan, but like he says if any of you are to get hurt then you surrender ….Lyoko?, over to the officials," nodded Mr. Dunbar.

The students then smiled at their parents and thanks to Dan, they no longer risked being under fire of having to shut the supercomputer down. They were going to use a return to the past anyway, but it was nice to know that their parents had their back on saving the world. The students looked over at Mr. Delmas who looked very concerned, but then he nodded.

"Well, I can say that if your parents are okay with this situation then we, as the students and staff of Kadic will be behind you as well. Like they said though, if you or anyone else is harmed with this then it will be turned over to the authorities," the principal nodded letting the students aside.

The students smiled in appreciation to their principal and then ran off towards the factory to fix things. They arrived at the factory in haste as they all filed into the supercomputer room to activate a return to the past.

"Well I have to say, I'll miss the few moments of glory," sighed Odd.

"I'll have to go back enough to the point where I can intercept the emails that were sent and prevent this mess," explained Jeremy seeing the W.O.L.F. program load.

Everyone waited for Jeremy to put in the code for the return to the past as he finished typing it in. Jeremy clicked the enter key and the bubble of light came from the supercomputer. Before the bubble could reach past the elevator, it sucked itself back in and an error sign appeared on the screen.

"Uh-oh," replied Ulrich peeking over Jeremy's shoulder.

Jeremy's eyes widened in shock as his fingers flew to find out what the problem is. The error sign kept flashing on the screen as Jeremy put his head in his hands and shook his head. Jeremy then rubbed his temples to assess the situation that he and his friends were in.

"What's wrong Jeremy?" asked Aelita peeking over to look at the supercomputer.

Jeremy turned around with his head low and gave a sigh. He then looked up to see all his friends wearing the same look of concern and worry. Jeremy gave a heavy sigh and then began to speak.

"It would seem as if this new W.O.L.F. program has done something with the return to the past feature on the supercomputer. I don't know if the program is still even on the supercomputer, but it will take me awhile to either find it on here or if I'll have to create a whole new return to the past program.

"So basically you're saying that we're going to be exposed like this until you get your program working again?" asked William.

"That is exactly what I am saying," replied Jeremy adjusting his glasses.

"What do we do now then?" asked Ulrich.

"We just have to play along with this whole "hero" stuff until Jeremy gets the program running again," replied Mason putting his hands in his jacket pockets.

"Cool! We get to be like…celebrities now I guess. We could….WE COULD PICK UP CHICKS!" smiled Odd.

"No Odd, we cannot let this get to our heads. We are only going along with this until I fix the program," harshly replied Jeremy.

"Come on Jeremy, we should at least enjoy it while we can. This could be our only chance ever to be recognized by it. Plus, it'll be like an alternate ending to our work on Lyoko and when we defeat X.A.N.A.," argued Aelita with a smile on her face.

Jeremy paused a moment and then looked at Aelita who was looking at him with puppy dog eyes. Jeremy just couldn't say no when Aelita was making that face, and maybe she was right. Maybe they did deserve a bit of credit for all the work they've done to protect people from the everyday threat of X.A.N.A. and it's attacks. Jeremy then gave a small nod and then looked at the rest of the gang which was behind Aelita.

"Alright alright, I guess it wouldn't hurt to experience this for a little while, but when I find out what's going on then we're immediately returning to the past," sighed Jeremy.

Everyone except Jeremy and Mason cheered in delight and gave each other's high-fives.

" I'll have to start tomorrow though since I have nothing to base a search on at the moment," sighed Jeremy rubbing the back of his head.

"That's fine Einstein so let's go back to the school and get something to eat, I'm starving!" smiled Odd with William and Yumi nodding in agreement.

Jeremy got off the supercomputer and walked past the others to get into the elevator. The others then followed behind and got in the elevator as well. The elevators doors then closed and the Lyoko warriors went up to the factory floor. The moment they got out of the factory, their troubles began to appear.


	6. Newfound Fame

**Hey ladies and gentlemen I'm back...someone sent these ninjas at me...yet the person who sent them didn't realize I'm a master at the art of the katana and the way of the samurai so those ninjas are no more...anyway...sorry for the slow update... :/ seriously though stuff popped up to mess with the progress I was making on anything for awhile...so enjoy and I'll probably upload a chapter on or before Valentines Day ...so enjoy**

**Chapter 6: Newfound Fame**

The Lyoko gang ascended the elevator starting from the supercomputer monitoring floor up to the factory floor. While they were in the elevator they began to converse about regular matters and then they all looked at Mason.

"Think about it this way Mason, now that you're a hero you can ask out Emily a lot easier," joked Odd.

Everyone gave a chuckle as Mason looked away and didn't laugh at Odd's joke.

"What's wrong Mason?" asked Aelita.

"There's a saying that goes along with fame, like alcohol and money, it can reveal the real part of the person that they might not shown if that fame is not controlled," warned Mason looking over at everyone.

"Eh, don't worry Mason, we have Jeremy to keep us in line," smirked Yumi causing Aelita to giggle.

They reached the top of the elevator as it screeched to a halt and the elevator doors opened. The gang walked out and Jeremy concealed the pass code pad as usual, and then joined up with the others as they walked out of the factory. They walked half-way across the bridge before William stopped both Yumi and Ulrich by tugging on Ulrich's jacket. Ulrich and Yumi quickly turned around expecting it to be something else other than William, but let their guard down once they realized it was just him.

"Hey William, what's up?" asked Yumi.

"I wanted to talk to you two about…..my recent actions," sighed William scratching his head.

"Oh yeah what about it?" asked Ulrich beginning to feel uncomfortable.

"Well, I…I'm sorry about the thing with your parents….I feel like what I did wasn't very smart. I let my jealousy over Ulrich getting Yumi take me over, and didn't let me think clearly about why my actions were wrong. Anyway, Ulrich I'm really happy that you and Yumi are together," sighed William giving a small smirk.

William scratched the back of his head as he looked at the couple expecting an answer. Ulrich turned to Yumi and a puzzled look on his face, and she did the same with an annoyed look on her face. Yumi and Ulrich took a few steps back and exchanged a conversation in whispers. They returned to where Willaim was standing, and looked him square in the eyes making him feel slightly threatened.

"Okay William, we accept your apology but you're still on the blacklist," replied Yumi crossing her arms.

William thought of it as better than nothing and smiled in appreciation at Ulrich and Yumi. William then ran to catch up with the others. Ulrich and Yumi followed behind soon reaching the rest of the group.

"Hey Mason I have a question for you," asked Aelita walking next to Jeremy.

"Yeah?" replied Mason scratching his head.

"If you received a lung donation to replace your old lungs, one, why did they cut in the front of your chest when you need to cut in the back to do the procedure. Two, why did you get that pair of lungs right away?" asked Aelita.

"Well, first off, they had to cut in the front to make sure that my heart was safe from the internal bleeding. Second off, I've been on the roster for a long time and thankfully since that incident occurred, they moved me up the list to get that pair of lungs sooner than I would have," explained Mason shrugging.

"Wait, so if the damages from Max were still there after the return to the past, that means that the return to the past has worked incorrectly since then, or at least started the problem," realized Jeremy putting his fingers on his chin.

"So could it be XANA's virtual beings that started the problem?" asked Odd.

"It could be, but I would have to look into it further before anything can be finalized," explained Jeremy.

"This whole situation has put a wrench in our way of doing this Lyoko thing now," sighed Ulrich.

"Yeah, no kidding, I wonder how everyone else is going to react to this mess," huffed Mason.

"They might run us out of town, if so, my name will become Samuel. Ulrich your new name will be Hans, and Mason yours will be Jason," planned Odd.

"Yeah because that is SO much different from Mason," smirked Mason rolling his eyes.

Everyone chuckled at the response and proceeded to reach the edge of the science building. Before they could take another step past the track, Jim immediately ran up to them and began to pant heavily.

"Um... hey Jim, what's wrong?" asked Yumi.

"T-the principal, whew, he wanted me to escort you to his office around the back area," explained Jim wiping the sweat off his brow.

"Why?" asked William peeking out from behind the group.

"He'll explain why when you get to his office," said Jim stepping out of the group's way to escort them.

The group walked past Jim who then walked behind them as they took an unfamiliar route to the principal's office. Jim led them through alley ways and forgotten paths until they reached the back of the office building. Jim took out a small, silver key which he used to unlock the door and let the group inside. Jim then quickly locked the door and placed the key in his shirt pocket. The group feared a X.A.N.A. attack and started to get into stance when Jim turned around and gave a smirk.

"They can't follow us if they don't know where we are," smiled Jim opening the door to the hallway of the office.

"What are you talking about Jim?" asked Odd as Jim led them into the secretary's office.

"That's what the principal wants to speak to you about," replied Jim opening the principal's door.

Jim locked the door to the principal's room and then stood next to the door as if he was a bouncer. The group saw Mr. Delmas sitting in his desk with the blinds closed. The room was lit by three overhead lights which buzzed and flickered from an extended period of no use.

"Can you please come here children?" calmly asked the Principal standing up and walking over to the closet.

The group exchanged glances with each other and nodded with consent. They wandered over to the closet behind the desk area. The principal revealed the inside of the closet and took out a brush and some makeup accessories, obviously confiscated from his daughter. Besides the picture of his daughter attached to the door of the closet, nothing of interest was inside the closet except the accessories the principal pulled out. Delmas gave the brush to Ulrich and the makeup to Aelita, and then turned on a light-up mirror on the inside of the closet door.

"You all need to look your best," explained Mr. Delmas walking over to the window.

The girls proceeded to touch up their faces on the urging of their prinicpal to do so. The boys at the same time brushed their hair and passed the brush around so everyone could look thier best.

"What's going on sir? The walking through the back, locking all the doors, blinds down, and now doing petty adjustments to our appearance," questioned William giving the brush to Mason.

"I was hoping you'd ask that," replied Mr. Delmas lifting the window blinds.

Light immediately filled the room and caused the group to squint under the brightness. Then their eyes became adjusted to the light the peered out the window to reveal a large group of people waiting out on the campus lawn. All of which were either holding signs or microphones with vans parked up and down the block.

"I think I'm going to like this whole heroes recognition," smiled Odd.


	7. Meet The Press

**Hey ladies and gents another chapter is up! I'm glad to be able to update quicker than I have been in a while two things:**

**1- I closed the poll on fanfic cover and the new bad guy is gunna be on the book cover**

**2- notice my new icon pic? Look familiar? Me and a co artist are creating a webcomic with Mason and his life. You like Mason right? Suuurrree you like Mason, but do you like him enough to follow the tumblr:**

**happygoluckies(add".tumblr" info on it and there's your link)**

**you may notice that a certain love interest looks familiar? Will it foreshadow things to come? Yes yes does it make me a bad person for doing that...maybe... will I burn in hell for a poor imitation?...I don't think so...anyway please at least take a look at that tumblr page and enjoy this chapter!**

**Chapter 7: Meet the Press**

Massive amounts of journalists, new reporters, and just regular fans awaited outside on the field waiting for their new heroes to appear and answer their questions and fulfill requests. Mr. Delmas nodded to Jim who then opened the door to his office to let out the group of students who's dark secret had been revealed with positive results.

"Remember children," instructed the Delmas, "Stay by Jim to insure that you don't get overwhelmed by the crowds. Also, do not associate the school with your actions on…Lyoko was it?"

"Yes sir, " nodded Jeremy following behind the others as they filed out the door.

Jim gave a nod to Mr. Delmas, and then closed the door. Jim locked it on the outside to make sure the press didn't harass the principal in the mess his students had gotten in.

"I sure hope this doesn't come back to blow up in the school's face," sighed Mr. Delmas dropping the blinds.

In the atrium of the office building, Jim stopped the group in front of the glass doors where all the journalists and paparazzi were eager to get shots of the group.

"Listen you guys, once we get outside stay directly behind me and keep looking forward, do NOT look around," spoke Jim.

"How come you know that Jim?" asked Odd.

"Well Odd I was once a security escort for business executives," explained Jim raising his chin with pride.

"Oh really, and you'd rather not talk about it?" asked William.

"No, actually, it was really fun. They let me ride in the limo and then be their security at a penthouse party," explained Jim.

"Oh," replied Mason.

Jim slowly opened the door and began to gently push people out-of-the-way. The group followed slowly behind Jim and kept their eyes locked onto the gym teacher's back. People attempted to flood in on all sides to take pictures and attempt to get an interview. Front the corner of their eyes, the warriors saw a stand with a table on it. The table had microphones which were hooked up to four large speakers on each side of the table. Jim led them to the stairs leading to the top of the platform. Jim stopped at the bottom of the stairs and stood in front of the stairs as soon as the group got up the stairs. The group took seats by the table and each adjusted their microphones to their best interest. Odd tapped on his microphone to see if it was working and the echoing boom from the speakers confirmed so. The flashing of the cameras and the face stared at the group.

"Excuse me pardon me!" spoke a voice from the group of reporters.

People parted as two people made their way to the front of the mass of investigators. Milly and Tamiya emerged from the group with a camera, microphone, and a notebook.

"Sorry little girls, this is for real reporters," smirked a man with a large recording set.

Milly crossed her arms and squinted her eyes at the reporter while Tamiya looked at Milly to see what she would do this time to get them kicked out of the conference. Mason was irked by the man's comment, and then decided how he could get back at him for insulting his fellow classmates.

"Yes, I would like to take the first question from the two girls in the front," smiled the blond leaning back in his chair.

The group of reporters dropped their jaws as Milly and Tamiya smiled and began rolling their video camera.

"Yes um for the Kadic News, we were wondering how dangerous this X.A.N.A. threat really is?" asked Milly with Tamiya rolling the film.

"Well, X.A.N.A. is capable of controlling electrical-based objects…and sometimes even people. Fortunately though, X.A.N.A. is in habit of not focusing on an attack unless it would involve attempting to eliminate us," explained Jeremy.

Several other reporters then raised their hands after the lyoko warrior answered the question and the silence then erupted into a fury of yelling and whistling.

"Yes you with the hat!" smiled Odd point on the reporter with the hat in the far back.

"Compton Gazette wants to know…who's who in the group?" asked the man tipping his hat.

"Well, I guess you could say that Jeremy is the brains, Aelita is the guardian of Lyoko, Yumi is the leader, Ulrich is the stealth, Mason is the muscle, William is the last-resort, and I am the comedian," explained Odd causing the reporters to chuckle at his explanation of himself.

"Okay a question for William, extra footage revealed that this X.A.N.A. menace had taken control over you at some point in the battle, how was that?" asked the reporter.

"Well, it felt like being asleep in a dream. I could see what I was doing, but there was nothing I could do to stop it," replied William shrugging his shoulders.

"Hey…group question! Why not just get the police involved with getting rid of this X.A.N.A.? Better yet, why not just shut down the said supercomputer forever?" asked another reporter causing an uproar of speaking.

"Well," spoke Aelita, " Even if we did shut down the supercomputer, X.A.N.A. would still be able access our world. The supercomputer is the only entry way into the world of Lyoko to deactivate the towers there," explained Aelita calmly as if she practiced what she was going to say.

"HEY MASON OVER HERE! Cornerstone monthly wants to know! A little bird told that us that at one time you were with a band which was able to gain a little fame in the world of street bands, can you evaluate on that?" asked a female reporter wearing a skirt and blouse.

"Well, yeah, but after a while it went downhill. I mean, there was arguing, fighting, so it broke up. It was fun while it lasted don't get me wrong, but eventually the fame monster takes control and has a habit of altering one's personality," spoke Mason.

"And what about your parents?" asked another reporter.

Mason paused for a moment to think about what he'd say back. He then leaned into the microphone and spoke softly:

"I prefer to leave the question out of the interview, thank you," replied Mason then scooting back into his chair.

The group of reporters then went silent, and a single hand rose from the crowd.

"Question for Ulrich, what is your strategy for taking down enemies on Lyoko?" asked a reporter.

"Well, I take my swords… I use my special ability of triangulate, and the kill the monster," explained Ulrich.

"Yes very interesting, and, what would you classify your relationship with Yumi Ishiyama as?" asked another reporter.

"…We're currently dating so…technically.. romantically?" spoke Ulrich beginning to blush slightly.

Muttering came from the crowd of reporters. A few more hands shot up from the crowd and everyone began getting eager for more questions to be answered by the newest celebrities.

"Hey this is for the Lafayette Online newspaper, what are you going to do now since your secret has been revealed to the national media?" asked a reporter.

"Well, I guess we're just going to have to play it by ear and see where it takes us," explained Jeremy with the others nodding in agreement.

"Do you plan on appearing for endorsements and advertising?" asked another reporter.

"Not really, but I guess It wouldn't hurt for more simple interviews later on," explained Yumi.

Jeremy squinted his eyes in disagreement while Odd's reaction was opposite to Einstein's. The others just nodded in agreement to Yumi's comment and then turned back around to face the crowd of reporters.

"For Teen Gossip, who in the group is single?" asked a reporter causing the mass of people to laugh.

"Well," chuckled Odd, " I am, Mason is, and William is. Don't forget ladies if you want some of this send your fan mail to Kadic Academy…remember….K-A-D-I-C academy!" smiled Odd causing the mass of people to roar into laughter.

"Well, a question directed to Yumi Ishiyama, How did your parents react to finding out about this?" asked a reporter holding a camera.

"Well, they weren't excited about it, in fact, if it weren't for Mason's uncle out parents probably would have made us give this up," explained Yumi.

"If you had the chance to destroy the threat instantly, would you do it?" asked another reporter.

"Oh yeah, definitely, X.A.N.A. is not a force to mess around with, and even though we were able to become good friends because of it, the threat of X.A.N.A. needs to be stopped," replied Jeremy fixing his glasses.

Suddenly, the press conference was being viewed from a LCD screen inside a full conference room. A hand raising a remote muted the screen and then placed the remote back down on the table. The group of properly dressed corporate leaders looked towards the head of the table. At the head of the table, Mattock drummed his fingers on the glass table with a gleam in his eye.

"Is there a problem sir?" asked the elderly executive looking away from an iPad sitting on the table.

"No, but there may be a solution," smiled the cunning executive standing up.

"Um sir, would you care to explain?" asked another executive tapping his pen on the table.

The slim executive walked over to the window and looked down the street to see an electronic billboard displaying the Lyoko warrior's interview in progress.

"It is quite simple my stock share-holders, people are obsessed with the now- the latest and greatest thing on the market. People want a reason to get something new. Let's say that we get the latest fad and we get them to sponsor our company what then?" asked Mattock stroking his facial hair.

"Who? Those kids who just got found out about some virtual stuff? Sir, they're only going to be five-second news, there's no profit in it!" argued one of the stock-holders with a five o'clock shadow and thick glasses.

"You're right, unless we push the envelope. If we get them wedged into this fame business, then they can become famous enough to then endorse our product. Then, after that, our profits will go up further than McAfee, Norton, or any other security software out there!" smiled the executive.

The whole conference applauded at the genius of their executive as he bowed. At the snap of his fingers, a door opened and his assistant came in with a clipboard.

"Call all the press and television news feeds, tomorrow we're going to pay our newest stars a visit," smiled Mr. Mattock.

"Yes sir!" nodded the assistant dialing on his cellphone.

Mattock smiled with content at his scheme which had begun to fall into place. Mattock drummed his fingers on the table with a grin as his assistant began talking on his cellphone. Back at Kadic, the group were still under the spotlight and talking to the press.

"Okay Odd, is it true that you have a large amount of siblings?" asked a reporter.

"Yeah, I got five sisters and they're…interesting," replied Odd getting a chuckle from a few of the reporters.

Jim, who was blocking the way to the podium, now made his way up to the podium to where the gang was seated. Jim grabbed Odd's microphone and then walked to the edge of the podium.

"Attention reporters it is now time for you all to leave, a future conference will be planned soon. These kids need to get to dinner and get into their dorm rooms. Yes, yes, this means the press conference is over, and no reporters will be allowed on campus when dinner starts ," announced Jim.

The reporters began to moan and grumble over the end of the brief conference and began to slowly trickle out to the street. The massive crowd took no time in disappearing from sight in a matter of minutes before Jim's watch beeped signaling dinner time.

"Alright you kids head to the mess hall, the principal has instructed me to tell you to not talk about any press conference meetings with the other students," said Jim shooing the group off the podium.

The group walked off the podium while Jim began to unplug the speakers and microphone from their power sockets. The sound of Jim cursing the electronic equipment faded as the Lyoko warriors walked over to the mess hall.

"Well, that was interesting," spoke Jeremy adjusting his glasses.

"Yeah no kidding," replied Odd putting his hands behind his head.

"Isn't it crazy that only a few days ago we were going to factory in secret and being secret heroes, but now we're, dare I even say, famous," smiled Aelita.

"Yeah but don't forget it's not going to last, this is only temporary until I can fix the return to the past program," explained Jeremy putting his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, but still it's kind of cool to see a sort of an alternate ending to being discovered," replied Ulrich.

"A what?" asked Mason with a smirk on his face.

"It's like the Twilight Zone, we get to see what if people were to find out. I mean, I bet each of us at one time have wondered about what would happen if people were to find out. Even though it could have bad, but it turned out being better than worse," shrugged Ulrich.

"Wow, I never thought of it like that before Ulrich, nice job," smiled Yumi.

Ulrich smiled in pride about the fact that his girl had just complemented him on his wit. While smiling Ulrich hadn't realized that they had reached the mess hall. The group became quiet due to a sudden fear rearing its ugly head into their thoughts. That fear was the fear of their fellow students reaction about their recent exposure all over the news. The gang looked at each other to see that the same idea was running through their minds as well.

"Man, this whole thing is going to make it more difficult for me t ask out Emily, ain't it?" smirked Mason rubbing the back of his head.

"Maybe a little," joked Aelita giving a smile.

"Well, ready or not, here we come," winced Odd gently pushing the door open.

The door slowly opened as the group slowly walked into the lunchroom to receive a large amount of stares coming from the other students. The group stared right back as they sat down at their usual table. The gang then looked at each other with fearful glances to the crowd of people staring at them. An awkward silence filled the mess hall, and Odd then decided to attempt to break that silence.

"Well I'm going to go get some food," Odd awkwardly laughed as he got up from the table.

Odd stood up and walked by a bunch of girls who were staring at him as the spiky-haired boy strolled up to Rose. Rose had several pre-made trays of meatloaf and mashed potatoes laying on the counter which Odd could tell were warm by the steam rolling off the food. Odd picked up the tray closest to him and then slid it down to where Rose was waiting with a stare which only added to the silence in the mess hall.

"So, how much will it be, it is the end of the month right?" asked Odd getting some money out to pay for his monthly lunch fee.

"No Odd, you lunch is free," said Rose getting a smile on her face, "You know what Odd, why don't you have some seconds," smiled the lunch lady putting an extra load of potatoes on Odd's plate.

"What?" gasped Odd looking down at his plate.

Suddenly, the entire student body in the mess hall gave a standing ovation for the Odd at the counter and the rest of the group at the table. Odd walked back to the table where the group of students began encircling them while applauding and whistling.

"Wow," smiled Yumi.

"Thanks for keeping us safe!"shouted Jean-Baptiste clapping.

"We appreciate all that you've done for us to save the school from that X.A.N.A. jerk!" smiled Azra.

"Finally, some real recognition!" smiled Odd.

The students now wore giant smiles across their faces, and was a far better preference for the warriors over the awkward silence only from a few minutes before. While the group received applause for their feats, a certain blue jacketed, blonde haired boy slipped through the crowd and out of the mess hall without being detected. Outside, Mason slid past the mess hall and made it into the forest where he took off his jacket.

"Damn, it got hot out here, must be this weather here," sighed Mason wrapping his jacket around his waist, "Sure hope no one sees me like this, they'd think I look stupid with this jacket around my waist,"

Mason darted off into the woods and made it to the edge of the forest where he came upon a clearing which bore some familiarity to Mason. The clearing was where he had asked Emily out the first time, and where Max shot him and attempted to end his life. Mason walked through the clearing where he put his hands in his pockets and then strolled away leaving the hallowed ground in peace.

"It's weird to think that one simple program can erase any evidence of an attempted take on my life, weird to think that no one can even remember it either," thought Mason walking to the outer limits of the campus.

Mason walked to the edge of the fence and then glanced around to see if there were any cameras present to catch him in the act of leaving campus. Mason didn't see any and then climbed over the fence. Mason jumped off the top of the fence and then continued walking on the sidewalk. He kept walking for ten minutes until he came to a house on the corner. Mason recognized the house because he had been there before only a few months before. Mason walked up to the porch and stood staring at the door and took a gulp.

"Well here goes nothing," sighed Mason pressing his finger on the door bell.

While the door bell echoed through the house Mason began to think to himself.

"This is a stupid idea! Why did I act so impulsively? I could have just waited until tomorrow!" thought Mason to himself tapping his foot on the ground.

Mason was caught off guard when the door suddenly opened. Mason jolted in surprise and regained posture to see the same old man he did when he had come to the same house a few months ago.

"W-wait? You!? What are you doing here!?" asked the old man with his eyes widened.

"Hello sir, is Emily here?" asked Mason putting his hands behind his back.

"…..no," huffed the old man rubbing his large, white mustache.

"Well, could you tell her I came by?" asked Mason.

"Hey you're that Lyoko warrior whatever that just got on the news right?" asked the old man with a smirk on his face.

"Yeah, why?" asked Mason.

"Well then, don't come around here. My granddaughter has no business with a troublemaker like yourself so go home," huffed the old man slamming the door.

Mason frowned at the poor reaction Emily's grandfather had on finding out Mason was a Lyoko warrior. When the old man slammed the door on Mason, Emily came down in her bathrobe with a towel wrapped around her head.

"Who was that papa?" asked Emily drying her hair.

"No one of importance my dear, what do you need?" asked Emily's grandfather rubbing his bald head.

"I just came down for my mp3 player," smiled Emily taking the electronic device off the counter.

Emily put the mp3 player in her bathrobe pocket and then went back upstairs to her room. In her room, Emily closed her blinds and then changed into her pajamas. Suddenly, she heard a tapping sound on her window. Emily put on her slippers and opened her blinds. Emily jumped back several inches when she saw Mason crouched near the window.

"Mason! What are you doing here!? I'm…..improperly dressed!" gasped Emily wrapping up in her bathrobe.

"I just wanted to talk, but if you would let me in I would appreciate it," smiled Mason drumming his fingers on the window pane,"

Emily seemed cautious, but did what she was asked to do. Mason silently rolled into the room and then locked Emily's door.

"Um?" asked Emily putting her hair down.

"Your old man just told me to get lost, I'm sure he'd be happy to know that I slipped into your room," whispered Mason sarcastically pushing himself away from Emily's door.

"Oh, okay" said Emily slightly turning pink.

"I AM THE LUCKIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD! MASON LAIRD THE LYOKO WARRIOR IS IN MY ROOM! Wait, if he was a warrior for that long HOW COME HE DIDN'T TELL ME!? Okay cool it Emz, cool it! Let's just see what he wants…I SURE HE ASKS ME OUT! WHAT A ROMANTIC SCENE! A BOY NEGLECTS THE WISHES OF HIS LOVE'S STUBBORN GRANDFATHER AND SCALES THE BUILDING TO REACH HIS TRUE LOVES QUARTERS! Okay, okay I think I went overboard there," though Emily to herself with a cute, little smile on her face.

"Um Emily, yoohoo come back to eearrtthhhh," whispered Mason moving his hand in front of Emily who was in dream land.

"Oh! Sorry, anyway what did you need?" asked Emily tying her bathrobe cord for the thousandth time.

"Okay, okay I know you're probably angry that I kept such a secret from you, and everyone else. I'm sorry I did it to protect those in my life and..anyway not important now. Anyway I scaled you house to ask you…would go out….," Mason said.

"Yeah!?" smiled Emily.

Mason paused. This was stupid and cliché, why did he scale her house to ask her out on a date. He could have just waited until tomorrow to see her. Mason mentally kicked himself over his impulsiveness and rash behavior. He couldn't stop now he was already so far into it, so Mason decided on the spot to say something different.

"To the town with me, I would like someone to walk around with so I don't get harassed by paparazzi. You know how it is, the new "hero" thing," explained Mason.

Mason hated himself for not telling her now! Mason mentally sighed at his incompetence and that he couldn't simply be satisfied with anything that he could have done about approaching this delicate matter.

"Oh, um okay, I guess, but then why did you sneak in my bedroom to tell me that?" asked Emily.

"Well, if I were to ask you tomorrow..then I would be harassed by reporters," lied Mason rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh okay that'll be fun then," said Emily putting on a fake smile.

Mason smiled back, gave a nod, and then proceeded to descend down to the backyard of Emily's house.

"Anywhere you want to go tomorrow?" asked Mason with his head still peeking out the window.

"Um just a few stores…it'll be real quick," smiled Emily playing with her hair.

Mason gave a sigh. He knew he shouldn't have asked that, but still he did anyway. If that were one thing he hated about himself was his low-level of self-satisfaction with anything he does.

"Bye," smiled Mason descending out of sight.

"Bye," replied Emily waving.

Mason got to the bottom of the drain pipe which he climbed to get up there in the first place , and got down from it before history tried to repeat itself. Mason looked up at the window, smiled and then ran off to try to make curfew at Kadic. Emily sat on her bed blushing madly. She still couldn't believe that Mason, the newest celebrity, climbed up to her window and asked if she wanted to hang out tomorrow.

"Wow, I can't believe he'd go out of his way to ask me to run errands with him tomorrow, but, why did he have his jacket tied around his waist?"


	8. Pen and Rubber

**Hey guys been awhile...just lot of stuff has come up...but now I should be back to updating regularly. For those who were care about my stories...yes i have deleted Code HEarts! Why? I'll be happy to tell you why...it wasnt a very good fanfic...I wan tto work on it and fix it so it works...i havent worked on it so long that i forgot where i was going with it so I am going to work on it and fix it up then repost it. Also i am planning on after this codelyoko fanfic which should be done relatively soon, i plan on released anime based fanfics - curently planning two FMA fanfics and an ouran one...maybe I dont know exactly yet...but please enjoy this fanfic!**

**Chapter 8: Fans pt.1 - Pen and Rubber**

"You are an awesome guy. You're going to ask out Emily today or not at all," smiled Mason jumping up and down in front of the mirror.

It was the morning after Mason had snuck into Emily's room. Eye of the Tiger was playing on a small radio on top of a moving box. Clothes were scattered on top of a newly assembled bed among other unpackaged goods. Mason had finally moved into his room in the new apartment in town yesterday, and had gotten all his stuff from Jeremy's room.

"Mason! Are you done unpacking yet?" yelled Mason's uncle over the sound of sizzling food.

"Um…yeah," lied Mason pushing all his clothes into a dresser.

"Okay, come down then I have a surprise for you," shouted Dan turning off the stove.

"Okay be down in a second," shouted Mason getting his jacket and wallet.

Mason sped down the stairs putting his wallet in his pocket and then turned the corner into the kitchen. Mason face turned from a smile to a frown to see who was sitting at the table. His friends had managed to find his apartment and were sitting with plates in front of them. Mason gave an uncomfortable smile and then turned around to head back upstairs.

"Don't you go upstairs kiddo, I still have to reveal the surprise," smirked Dan putting scrambled eggs on each of their plates.

"Yeah Mason your surrrppppprrrissseeee," smiled Odd drumming his fingers together.

"I definitely don't want the surprise now," shuttered Mason causing the others to laugh.

"You're getting the surprise anyway. Go look outside," smiled Daniel pointing out to the patio.

Mason looked at his uncle who pointed outside, and then looked to the sliding door. Mason expected that his uncle was trying to play some sick prank on him, but decided to play along. Mason opened the sliding door and then walked outside onto the patio. He looked around for a few second and then looked back at his uncle.

"So where is it?" asked Mason.

"Look down to the street," smiled Dan walking outside lighting a cigarette.

Mason look down to see several cars and a motorcycle parked by the curb. His eyes darted up and down the street looking for his surprise. Mason turned around to his uncle with a confused look on his face.

"Keep looking, here's a hint, it's by the curb," smiled Dan urging him to turn around.

Mason turned back around and looked by the curb to see the same vehicles as before. Except, one car was slightly parked away from it and looked brand new.

"Damn! You got me a car!? Is it the red one?" gasped Mason then smiling.

"No of course not! I got you a toothbrush, but don't worry it's the same color as the car!" chuckled the clever uncle waving a red toothbrush in front of his nephew.

Mason's smile turned into a frown. The group behind Uncle Dan tried to hide their laughter as best as they could, but then they eventually erupted into giggles and laughing.

"This isn't funny you jerks," huffed Mason putting his hands in his pockets and slouching his back.

"It's not the toothbrush either nephew. It's the motorcycle," chuckled Dan tossing the keys to Mason.

Mason caught the keys in his left hand. He opened his hand and stared at the keys, and then looked back up at his uncle. Mason's uncle smiled as he lit a cigarette and put it in his mouth.

"W-wow, thanks," stuttered Mason with a blank expression on his face.

"No problem nephew, think of it as an early Christmas present, an extremely early Christmas present," chuckled Dan suddenly putting out the cigarette on his shoe when he remembered that there was company over .

"You didn't have to, I mean it must've been really expensive," sighed Mason jingling the keys.

"Well not exactly, I got it at the best price….free," said Dan walking into the kitchen and grabbing an envelope by the toaster. "I got this in the mail earlier today addressed to you; the mailman insisted that it was urgent. The return address says it's from Legatus Security Corporation," said Dan sliding an opened envelope down the counter.

Mason walked back inside and slid the patio door shut. He then walked past his friends who were feasting on his uncle's cooking and took the letter off the counter. Mason took the letter out of the envelope and unfolded the letter inside to see a logo for Legatus Security Corp. at the top of the letter, and began to read the letter out loud for everyone else to read.

_To Mr. Mason Laird:  
We at Legatus Security Corp. appreciate your service to your family, your community and to mankind overall. We ask of you to continue with your honorable service on Lyoko and ask of you to receive our deepest thanks. In part with our thanks, please take this check with the amount of money disclosed as the beginning of our debt to you and your friends' service. Not only that please accept the electric-powered motorcycle-_

_Sincerely,_

_- Samuel Mattock –Legatus Security Corp._

"Wow, nothing like getting a big check to say thanks for defending the Earth," smirked Ulrich finishing his breakfast.

"Yeah, appreciation at 4 in the morning, FOUR O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING!" barked Dan scratching his head.

Mason slid across the floor and stole a piece of toast from Odd's plate causing an uproar from the hungry lad. Before Odd could do anything Mason was already chewing on a bite, and proceeded to open the door.

"Where the hell are you going? You're not going a centimeter more until you sit down and eat like a regular person," ordered Dan in a stern, but low-volume, voice.

Mason closed the door and sat down to a prepared plate in front of him. Odd saw his opportunity and stole the piece of toast off of Mason's plate to avenge his own. Mason picked up his knife and fork and began to eat his food before his uncle could say anything else that would stall him seeing his motorcycle up close.

"Wait, are you even legal to drive? You do know that you have to be 18 here in France to drive right?," asked Yumi giving Dan her empty plate.

"About that, well, I also got this," said Dan slapping a small piece of paper nearby Mason's plate.

Mason slid the piece of paper off the table and then read it out loud.

"This official government document states that this person associated with the Lyoko Warriors is given full permission to use the road with personal vehicles," announced Mason following the card word from word.

"Don't you think it's a little weird that everyone in your group is getting access to these special privileges?" asked Dan.

"I'm a little suspicious about that as well, I have a hunch that all of this is going back to Legatus," said Jeremy adjusting his glasses and also giving his plate.

"I think it's possible that Legatus is wanting something from us," said Aelita finishing her eggs.

"Nah, I think these Legatus people are just thanking us for the good job," smiled William passing his plate down to Dan.

Suddenly, there came a knock on the door and an awkward silence filled the kitchen and dining area. Everyone looked over to Mason to answer the door. Mason got up and walked over to the door.

"Who's at the door? Is it those Legatus people again come here to harass me again?" asked Dan walking over to the door.

"No, just a girl," said Mason peering though the peep hole.

"A GIRL!? GET OUT OF MY WAY!" smiled Dan almost running over his nephew.

Dan brushed his shaggy hair to the side with his hand and proceeded to unbutton the first two buttons of his shirt, and then roll up the shirt's sleeves up to the elbows. He then pulled out a small bottle of cologne which he used to quickly spray himself on the neck.

"You're so artificial," commented Mason jokingly as he brushed his jacket off.

"You're so artificial," mocked Mason's uncle as he opened the door.

Dan opened the door and then leaned on the door frame. He brushed his hair back a second time and then looked down at the visitor.

"Why hello there pretty la-," said Dan before he looked down.

Dan was interrupted when he saw that girl who looked about 15 years of age standing in front of him. Dan quickly buttoned up his shirt and rolled down his sleeves.

"Oh um, hi there," said Dan getting off the doorway.

The sound of laughing came from behind Dan which caused him to turn around and glare at the offender who happened to be Mason. He then turned around to assist the visitor.

"Yes may I help you?" asked Dan crossing his arms.

"Yes is William Dunbar here?" asked the girl pushing a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Lemme check…WILLIAM DUNBAR!" Dan shouted into the apartment.

William excused himself from the table and walked over to where the door was. William peered through the entry way to see the girl who was now wearing a smile.

"Hello can I help you?" asked William scratching the back of his head.

"EEEE NO WAY NO WAY…NO…WAY!" squealed the girl jumping up and down.

"Um yeah, what do you need?" asked William.

Suddenly a group of girls and boys appeared behind the original visitor and they all began to squeal in excitement. Several were wearing customized shirts with their favorite warriors' name painted on the front.

"This must be the benefits kicking in!" smiled Odd peering over William over tippy toes.

The fans in the group that was pro-Odd gave a squeal of excitement. Suddenly, they burst into the apartment after trampling Dan.

"WOW! This. Is. Amazing!" squealed a fan girl encircling Odd.

Odd basked, with a large smile on his face, in the glory that his fans showered upon him. Other fans were now hanging around the others as well.

"Is it true that you watch over EVERYTHING that happens on Lyoko?" asked a guy whose question as focused towards Jeremy.

"Yeah just about…but the others do the REAL work," replied Jeremy rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"No way you're the one who gets the job done with all the technical stuff!" argued the guy causing Jeremy to turn slightly pink.

"William could you sign my shirt?!" squealed a girl handing William a marker.

"Yeah sure!" smiled William placing his John Hancock on the shirt.

The girl gave a giggle and caused a swarm of William fan girls to want more autographs. Dan got up and brushed the dirt off his shirt. He looked around to reveal the horror of having far too many "guests" in his apartment and decided to take action.

"Excuse me kiddos, sorry to rain on your parade but this is a private residence. I must ask you all to leave before other action is pursued," warned Dan opening the door to let out the uninvited fans.

Unfortunately for Dan, his plan for getting rid of the guests only made the problem worse. When Dan opened the door, several more people trampled over him and piled into the now extremely crowded dining room. Mason saw the mess unfold and decided to disappear. At this time, Mason's fans were annoyed that their idol was missing.

"Where's Mason!?" demanded the fans looking around.

"OVER HERE!" smiled Mason on the other side of the apartment.

Everyone looked over at Mason to see him opening a window. He was wearing his jacket, backpack, and a pair of sunglasses.

"Where are you going?" asked Dan.

"Out this window, I got an outing to attend," smiled Mason then jumping though the window.

Jaws dropped as Mason leapt out the window, and resulted in a mad rush out of the dining room to the other side of the apartment. They looked out the window to see Mason getting off a shrub which he had conveniently landed on and rush over to his motorcycle. Mason's brand new baby sported a maroon basecoat with a white sport stripe painted down the center. The motorcycle was a new crotch-rocket which anyone could tell cost a pretty penny. Mason ruffled through his jacket for his keys and picked up one to the two helmets found in a large compartment found under the passenger end of the seat. Mason put on the helmet, jumped on the motorcycle, started it, and then drove off.

"At least he wore his helmet," sighed Dan scratching his hair.

"Hey um, how does he know how to drive one of those?" asked Yumi.

"He doesn't," replied Dan.

Eyes widened and jaws dropped as they stared at Dan.

"What I was kidding! He used to work on motorcycles with his grandpa as well as go dirt biking way back," chucked Dan.

"You scare me sometimes Mr. Dan," sighed Ulrich.

"Okay kids show's over I need you out of here in an orderly fashion, so in short, get the hell out of my apartment!" smirked Dan shooing everyone out of the apartment room.

Dan struggled, but finally managed to get everyone out of his living space including the Lyoko warriors. He then plopped himself on the couch and turned the T.V. to his soap operas. He then lit a cigarette and slouched to his ideal comfort.

"Sure hope Mason doesn't screw this up," sighed Dan.

Mason zoomed down the street as his new motorcycle sparkled in the sun. He zoomed past the people on the sidewalk and past the several shops located on the strip. Mason came to a stop when the light ahead turned red and leaned on his right leg. Mason felt comfortable knowing that since no one could see his face with the helmet on that no one could harass him about his newfound fame. Mason checked his watch to see what time it was.

"Man already ten-thirty, oh well I'm almost there," sighed Mason looking at his watch as the light turn green.

The light change sent a signal to Mason's brain to get back up and moving. Mason pushed off the ground and zoomed past the light with haste. As he turned a corner, Mason saw a small flower vendor with fresh, multi-colored bouquets. Mason hopped off the bike to buy a bouquet before resuming his trip and darting past a street sign.

"A little gift never hurts," thought Mason to himself zooming around the corner.

Mason began to go so fast in order to get there on time, he nearly missed a street pole. He parked on the curb when he arrived at the house and took off his helmet to reveal his new helmet hairdo. Mason quickly fixed his hair with the help of his bike mirror and a handy comb before ascending the steps to Emily's house. He knocked on the door and wrung his wrists in anticipation for the door to open. He uttered a short prayer that last night wouldn't be repeated and bushy mustache man wouldn't devour his soul. His heart fluttered when he heard the door open and he quickly gripped the bouquet behind his back. Instead of an old man with a busy mustache, a small, wrinkly lady answered the door. Her hair was wrapped in a tight bun and a large pair of glasses framed her small, beady eyes. She was wearing an apron and her hands here covered in flour.

"Yes may I help you?" asked the old lady wiping off her hands on the apron.

"Yes ma'am I'm here to see Emily….is she here?" asked Mason squeezing the bouquet behind him.

"Oh so polite! Emily your friend is here!" smiled the elderly lady turning towards the hallway.

"Coming!" chirped Emily turning the corner.

Emily turned the corner wearing a pair of designer skinny jeans which included a belt. For a top she wore a long sleeved, plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Her shirt's first two buttons were not buttoned and underneath was a white tank top. Emily wore no jewelry except for a watch on her left wrist. Mason stared at every detail on his beloved, and couldn't stop staring due to Emily's beauty. Mason turned pink on the cheeks and whistled to himself as Emily walked to the door.

"Ready to go?" asked Emily putting hand on her hip.

"Uh…yeah!" nodded Mason snapping out of the trance.

"Have fun you two!" chuckled the old lady closing the door.

"So are we riding on that moped again?" joked Emily nudging Mason.

"Nope," smiled Mason raising the keys.

Mason clicked the red button on the key chain which made the light on the motorcycle flicker on. Emily's eyes widened and a smile of excitement grew on her face. Mason took out both helmets and handed one to the lady.

"Safety first!" smirked Mason putting on the helmet.

Mason stretched one leg across the seat on the motorcycle and then plopped down into the seat. He then turned towards Emily and patted the seat behind him.

"Is that where I have to sit?" asked Emily blushing.

"Um…sort of….kind of….yeah," replied Mason flipping up the visor on his helmet.

Emily put on her helmet before she could turn any redder and then hopped on the seat behind Mason. She remembered seeing in the movies where girls on the backs of motorcycles would have to lean in and grab the person driving from behind in order to stay secure on the bike. Emily leaned in and hugged Mason from behind causing him to jump slightly in shock.

"Is everything alright?" asked Emily.

"Yeah…..yeah..everything is…..everything is alright!" nodded Mason in assurance as he flipped the visor on the helmet down.

Mason was red due to the unexpected actions of his beloved, but before he could think about it further he started the motorcycle and zoomed off from the house. While zooming around, Mason reached into his earliest memories to remember his dirt biking days. Sure a dirt bike and a motorcycle were different, but it helped a lot when driving around town. Mason began to plot how he would ask Emily out as well; he thought up a bridge scene at sunset by the waterway with the strung up lights as a good spot. Mason even thought about asking her out when he took her back home and making a detour to a quiet, desolate place in the woods…just as long as It weren't where Max had shot Mason. Then Mason realized that since his Lyoko identity was discovered now, that means that there's the possibility Emily will find out about what had happened that night. Mason now realized that there is now a heavier burden to uphold as a Lyoko warrior since he has been discovered.

"This is going to be harder than I thought," sighed Mason turning a corner.


	9. Cement and Lips

**Hey readers! Good to see you guys are still interested in my works! Anyway, sorry for that long period of no posting, but good news is I have a lot of free time so every day of my vacation I'll be spending at least 3 hours a day working on chapters. Also, I plan on completing the Two Diaries Code Reboot soon so be on the look out for that. Please take some time and write a review for my works because nothing helps keep me writing like seeing people who care about this kind of stuff give me your opinion of the work. Please enjoy this chapter! -LL910**

**Chapter 9: Fans part 2 – Cement and Lips**

"Since Dan kicked us out of the apartment, where do we go now?" asked Odd walking down the apartment complex hall with the others.

"Well, let's try to find out where Mason went and then lets head to the factory to hide out," suggested Aelita hanging on Jeremy's arm.

"That seems like a plan, but, how are we getting out of here? If we go out the front we're going to face our fan base," explained Ulrich peeking through a window to the people below.

"What if you go out back?" replied Dan.

The group nodded and ran out the room leaving Dan in peace. They dashed down the stairs to the lobby and went around back to the secondary exit. Yumi opened the large, steel door and outside to see that no one waited around in the back.

"Nobody's out here, let's go!" beckoned Yumi

"Wait, even if we do leave the building, where are we going to find Mason? Also, how long can we walk around before someone spots us and causes a scene?" asked Odd.

"Odd's right, for once, we need to find a way to walk around in plain sight and quickly find Mason," plotted Jeremy.

"We should dress differently so no one can recognize us," suggested Aelita.

"That's a good idea and all, but where are we supposed to get different clothes?" asked William.

Dan was leaning forward in his chair with anticipation. His mouth bellowed with smoke from his cigarette as he stared intently at the TV screen. His knuckles were white from gripping his knees so hard. The TV was showing a new episode of the soap opera "In the Metropolis"-Dan's favorite soap opera. The scene was in a badly decorated living room and the story was about to expose a dramatic plot twist.

"I can never love you!" gasped the women in the scarlet dress.

"Why on Earth not my love?" gasped the man wearing an eye patch and a white tuxedo.

Dramatic music played as the camera zoomed on the woman. The woman was about to speak when the screen turned to black and a title page came up.

"We will return to the show after this commercial break," a voice narrated before the show flipped to commercials.

"Aw damn, hate it when that happens," sighed Dan drumming his fingers on his knees.

A sharp knock came on the door, but before Dan could get up and answer it, the Lyoko warriors barged in and locked the door behind them.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" barked Dan standing up.

"Sorry Mr. Dan but we need different clothes to change into!" apologized Ulrich peeking through the blinds to the street below.

"No way!" barked Dan.

"Please Mason's uncle, we need to blend in if we are going to find Mason," bedded Aelita putting her hands together.

Dan looked at Aelita who was giving him a pity-face and then to the others who had pleading looks on their faces to complement. Dan gave a sign and then rubbed the back of his head in defeat.

"Okay fine, but you're out of here before the show gets back on," sighed Dan pointing upstairs.

The gang nodded in appreciation and dashed upstairs before they could bother Dan anymore. They ran up to the rooms and grabbed as many clothes as they could find. Ulrich, William and Odd quickly shopped for clothes in Mason's bedroom while Aelita, Yumi, and Jeremy took sunglasses, hats and jackets.

"Little big," complained Odd fixing the pants.

"If you weren't so scrawny then maybe you'd fit a little better," smirked Ulrich putting a belt on.

"Svelte!" barked Odd fixing the shirt.

"At least the clothes sort of fit on you!" replied Jeremy rolling up the sleeves on a jacket that obviously belonged to Mason.

After they adjusted the clothes, they all charged downstairs and then dashed out the door slamming it from behind.

"I am really…" said the actress on TV before the door slammed interrupting the line.

"NOOO!" cried Dan as his cigarette fell out of his mouth.

The gang ran out of the apartment area and head to the sidewalk. They readjusted their clothes to prevent detection as they saw a few of their fans walking down the sidewalk.

"Okay remember, do not talk to anyone, do not let your clothes see through, and lastly stay apart," whispered Jeremy while the others nodded in agreement.

"Remember we need to find out where Mason is before the fans do and then we're heading to Lyoko. When someone finds Mason call the others so we can get to the factory ASAP." explained Aelita.

They nodded and then broke to find Mason. They all ran off in separate directions to find out where their comrade was.

"Hopefully this where's Waldo game won't backfire on us," sighed Jeremy.

At the same time, Mason was driving in the shopping district in town when he turned into a parking garage.

"So, which shopping center do you want to go to?" asked Mason parking in the parking garage.

"I don't know," replied Emily.

"You don't know?"

"Well we can go anywhere to get the things I need," shrugged Emily.

"Oh okay," replied Mason taking off his helmet and putting it in the storage space.

Mason threw the helmets in the storage bin and locked up the motorcycle. Emily let out a giggle causing Mason to jerk around.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Mason.

"Your helmet hair," giggled Emily, "Your hair is sticking up like Odd's,"

"Like Odd's huh?" replied Mason peeking in the mirrors of the motorcycle, "You have it too,"

"Oh no! It took my grandma forever to do my hair!" gasped Emily looking into the mirror.

"Here, take this hat I snatched before I jumped out of the window at my apartment," said Mason giving Emily a hat.

"You jumped out of a window?!" gasped Emily.

"Don't worry I landed in a bush," assured Mason taking out some hair gel and fixing his hair in the mirror.

"Don't do that! You could have hurt yourself!" huffed Emily putting her hands on her waist.

"It's fine you don't have to worry," said Mason changing his hair style.

"What are you doing?" asked Emily.

"I am changing my look so a bunch of our fans do not see us," replied Mason putting on sunglasses.

"Wait what fans? What's going on?" asked Emily.

"We have fans due to our heroics and the fans found my apartment which resulted in a very crowded living space which my uncle wasn't so pleased about, and that's why I jumped out of a window," said Mason taking off his jacket.

"Sounds like a fun morning," smirked Emily.

"How do I look?" asked Mason turning around.

"Different," said Emily looking away slightly blushing.

"Good, now if you don't mind, let's try to get your things done before anyone figures out who I am please," replied Mason starting to walk out.

"Okay but I have a few questions which I think deserve to be answered," huffed Emily.

"Oh you think so? Okay," replied Mason walking out into the sunlight.

Emily smiled and ran to catch up with Mason. Meanwhile the others were walking around Kadic looking for Mason. Odd had already checked the boys' dorm and Aelita the girls. Jeremy had checked the gym while Yumi checked the classrooms. Meanwhile, Ulrich checked the forest and William the factory. They took great care to look everywhere and to prevent being seen by anyone. After twenty minutes of searching the campus, the group entered a call conference.

"Anyone find out where Mason is?" asked Ulrich leaving the forest.

"No," replied the others in synch.

"Okay we'll keep looking then," said Yumi.

"By the time we find Mason it will be too late. For all we know he could be swarmed by fans or even us! we got to find a way to speed this up," replied William leaving the man-hole.

"No William, just keep to the plan and we'll find him in time, in fact, he could be in disguise as well," ordered Yumi.

"Okay, we just have to think, where would Mason be?" asked Jeremy.

Everybody paused for a moment and then Odd had an epiphany.

"Wait, Mason said yesterday he was going somewhere," said Odd scratching a spot under his hat.

"That's right! Um, he said he was going somewhere with….," continued Ulrich, "Emily! He was going somewhere with Emily,"

"Oh really? He must have a date," smiled Aelita.

"I knew Mason couldn't stay away from his beloved, that love-sick puppy," witted Odd.

"Okay, Aelita go back to the girls' dorm and find someone who would know where she is," said Jeremy wiping the sweat on his brow.

"Emily doesn't live in the dorms anymore she lives at her grandparents' house," said Odd.

"How do you know this, does Emily have more than one admirer?" smirked Ulrich.

"What? No? Before we broke up she talked about her grandparents coming here because of some job," commented Odd hoping to clear himself of any suspicion.

"Okay then, Ulrich you're the closest so quickly go and ask where Emily is. Afterwards you go find Mason and bring him to the factory," ordered Jeremy hanging up.

"Wait a second! I don't even know where she-"said Ulrich.

Before Ulrich could finish everyone hung up leaving Ulrich stranded. Ulrich shoved his phone in his pocket with irritation and began walking out to the housing area next to Kadic. After what seemed like years later, Ulrich had managed to find Emily's house only by seeing the painted mail box with the family name on the side. Ulrich went up to the front porch and rang the doorbell. The same old woman who had greeted Mason came up to the door and looked up at Ulrich.

"Oh, it's another young man," smiled the elderly woman adjusting her glasses.

"Wait another? There was another one? What did he look like?" asked Ulrich frantically.

Ulrich looked around slightly to see if he was being followed. A few people looked back at him with a questionable look on their faces causing Ulrich to abruptly turn back towards the grandma.

"Yes there was, he had blond hair and was very tall, I believe his name was Jason? Samson? Manson?

"Mason?" asked Ulrich.

"Why yes, thank you, his name was Mason. He came by a few hours ago and picked up my granddaughter to go to the shopping district," recalled the Old woman who was rubbing her chin.

"Shopping district? That's what I came here for, thank you!" nodded Ulrich turning around to leave.

"By the way Mr. Stern if I were you I wouldn't talk much, people might figure out that it's the famous Lyoko warrior," whispered the woman who gave a wink and closed the door.

Ulrich gave an uncomfortable face due to the slight flirting way of the woman, but took the advice to heart. He dashed off the porch and walked down to the shopping district. Meanwhile Mason and Emily were almost done with running errands.

"Can you answer those questions now? You've been stalling for a few hours now?" huffed Emily tapping her foot.

"Aw darn, you've seen through my ruse," sarcastically replied Mason.

"Come on, you promised an hour ago," begged Emily, "This might be the only time I can ask these kinds of questions,"

"It won't be," muttered Mason.

"What?"

"What?"

"Never mind, come on please!?" begged Emily giving a puppy dog face.

"FIIINNNNEEEE," murmured Mason, "What's your first question?"

"Well, um, how do you get to Lyoko?" asked Emily.

"How? Well you see we have theses scanners we go into and then Jeremy types in some stuff into the computer and we're canned into Lyoko," explained Mason turning to order some ice cream.

Mason ordered two double scoops ice cream cones. One was vanilla with chocolate syrup and sprinkles and the other plain strawberry. Mason gave the vanilla ice cream, after much refusal, to Emily and kept the strawberry for himself.

"You didn't have to," smiled Emily licking the ice cream.

"I did anyway," replied Mason licking the strawberry.

"Okay, what happens when a monster shoots you?" asked Emily licking the melting ice cream from the cone.

"We have these life points, and when a monster shoots us we lose those life points-"explained Mason.

"What happens when you lose all those life points?" asked Emily starry-eyed.

"Let me finish!" chuckled Mason, "When we lose all our life points, we are "devirtualized" which means our virtual form is eliminated and we our consciousness transferred back to our bodies in the scanner. The scanner opens back up and lets us out,"

"Wow that's very interesting…so this X.A.N.A. …I remember from your press conference talking about how he….she….it….it can take over a person….can it create people as well?" asked Emily licking her ice cream.

Mason's mind flashed back to that night when Max had nearly ended his life and threatened the life of his friends. His mind raced with images of blood, violence and terror that could cause the bravest of men to shrink down to become mice. He remembered how he and Emily were alone in the forest when Apollo had come with Max in pursuit, igniting the chain of events to occur, forever leaving a scar in the mind of Mason. His mind then went off to think of not what HAD happened but what COULD have. He remembered how close Emily was to him in the chill air, and how comfortable she was in his suit jacket. He could remember how she accepted his feelings and nearly accepted a kiss that would have established a romance that would have turned his life for the better.

"Mason….Mason? Maaaason?" smiled Emily.

"Huh what?!" gasped Mason snapping out of his trance.

All the while he was thinking of what could have happened his gaze fell over to Emily which caused her to feel slight discomfort.

"Can X.A.N.A. create people?" repeated Emily biting into the ice cream cone.

"Oh…well…no," lied Mason twiddling his thumbs.

Emily raised an eyebrow at an answer she saw as indirect. Ever since Mason spent time in the hospital, he had acted indirect with her as well as slightly paranoid when going somewhere by himself. Not to mention that he's worked out, gotten a slight tan, hair grown out more… Emily caught herself slipping off to into her imagination when she shook herself out of before she met Mason's fate of being snapped out of it.

"So um, we completed all the errands I needed to run. Anywhere you need to go?" asked Emily picking up her bags.

"Yeah one place, but it's on the other side of town," smirked Mason fixing his hair a second time before getting up.

"Its fine, my grandpa is out of town on work and my grandma is okay with me coming back before nine, just as long as I call her before I get home," smiled Emily turning to walk back to the parking garage.

"Okay then," smiled Mason "We'll just get going and we could get to this place around eight,"

The place that Mason had to go was a bridge that he had picked out where he would take Emily and ask her out. He had to get there by eight to have a sunset scene and the lights on the bridge on at the same time. His scene had to be perfect in order for it to work out right.

Mason stood up to accompany Emily, but before he could catch up a random person bumped into Mason, causing his sunglasses to fall off his face.

"Oh I am so sorry sir!" gasped the woman banning down to retrieve the sunglasses.

"Oh its fine you don't have to-"went on Mason.

Mason stopped talking as soon as he saw the attire of the woman who had bumped into him. For she wore a Lyoko warriors fan shirt with Mason's spitting image on the front. The woman looked up to give Mason back his glasses and stopped.

"Oh my gosh, OH MY GOSH!" gasped the woman who had begun to smile.

"Shhhhh, don't say anything," panicked Mason now putting his finger to his lips.

"It's MASON LAIRD," gasped the woman ecstatically.

"And…..it's over," sighed Mason.

Emily turned around to see the scene unfold as a group of people came from the other side of the street and began to rush to Mason's location. The crowd became so bad that even those who were sitting next to Mason and Emily were now curious to look over their shoulders. Then, a news crew reporting the business of the week came over to Mason. Emily stared at the crowd, but before it could devour Mason, he burst out of the crowd and ran towards Emily only to cause a stampede of fans and paparazzi to follow. Mason ran up to Emily, stopped, grabbed her hand, and ran off.

"Where are we going?" asked Emily being nearly dragged by Mason.

"To the garage!" replied Mason.

Mason and Emily ran for what seemed for miles. They reached the street where the parking garage was located only to see another mass of news crews outside the garage waiting for Mason to return to his motorcycle.

"Damn," replied Mason.

Suddenly, one of the news crew announced that they saw Mason and the group looked over at the couple at the intersection.

"Double damn," replied Mason squeezing Emily's hand.

Only now had Emily noticed that Mason was holding her hand. The warmth from Mason hand seemed to crawl up her arm and cause Emily to feel warm on her cheeks. Before her mind could wander she was jerked to the left and, again, being led while groups of people followed in pursuit.

"Where the hell is Mason?" growled Ulrich walking down the sidewalk.

Ulrich had to walk nine miles to get to the shopping district and for what. Ulrich had stepped in several mud puddles as well as has a drink spilled on him only to build upon his bad mood; started from when the "duty" of finding Mason that was dumped upon him by the others. For all he knew William was hitting on his Yumi or worse Odd! Ulrich was looking down at the sidewalk when he heard the sudden thumping of someone running on the side-walk came closer and closer to him.

"Mason!? Emily?"

"Hi Ulrich….bye Ulrich!"

Mason and Emily ran right past Ulrich, leaving him shocked.

"Wait what? Mason!"

"There they are and…..IT'S ULRICH STERN!" gasped a new reporter.

"Uh oh"

Suddenly, part of the group split off and dashed over to Ulrich before he could get away. Ulrich was now devoured by the crowd of fans paparazzi. Meanwhile, Mason and Emily ran by a park and stopped for a rest.

"We can't keep doing this Mason, I'm about to pass out! Not to mention you're pretty close to ripping my arm out of its socket!" wheezed Emily taking heavy breaths.

"I got an idea," smiled Mason taking Emily's hand.

Mason led Emily into the park where he helped Emily into an art-piece. Mason jumped in as soon as he heard the crowd of people come closer. The group came to the park where they looked around but could not see him. Mason put his finger to his lips as Emily put her hands on her mouth to muffle her giggling. As soon as the crowd got together, they disbanded leaving the park in silence. Not until the birds starting to chirp again when Mason poked his head out of the art to see if the crowd was gone.

"Okay the crowd is gone so we can…." went on Mason looking over at Emily.

Mason saw Emily with a smile on her face. It wasn't her regular, sweet smile. It was a deep, romantic smile. It was the same smile he saw that night in the woods before THAT happened. Her eyes sparkled through the lenses of her glasses which were down on her nose. Her fingers were touching Mason's hands. Mason's eyes widened through the sunglasses and his eyebrows rose as Emily scooted closer. Both the young lovers' cheeks were red. Mason no longer had control as he scooted closer to Emily and she doing the same; soon they were only inches apart. Mason could smell the rose perfume and Emily could see the depth of Mason's emerald eyes. Emily began to lean in as Mason did the same. Emily pushed out her lips slightly expecting a kiss on warm flesh only to be met by cold metal. Emily jerked back in shock to see she had kissed Mason's pocket watch. Mason dangled the pocket watch by chain between Emily and himself. Emily now felt confused and slightly rejected as she sighed and frowned still looking into Mason's eyes. Mason realized that here was where he would ask Emily out, even though it wasn't where he had pictured, it didn't matter anymore. As long as Emily would be his it would do in the spur of the moment.

"You know I carry this on me all the time right?" said Mason dropping the pocket watch into his hand.

"Oh you don't have to, I only got it for you as collateral for the music box," sweetly replied Emily still flustered from the near encounter.

Mason opened up the pocket watch to show the picture of his parents on the left side with the clock ticking on the right side.

"I see you got the picture adjusted better than I did," replied Emily not seeing where Mason was going with this.

Mason stared at Emily as he flipped a metal piece to show that the left side had a backside. He flipped it over to show a picture of Emily. Mason gave a slight smirk as he then closed the pocket watch and put it back in his pocket and then took hold of Emily's hands.

"You know I like you… a lot. You've been on my mind since you took care of me when Rex beat me up back in October. Now, I took you out here today to ask you to be my girl. I would understand if you wouldn't want to, but it would mean the world to me if you did," sighed Mason as he turned tomato red.

Emily's mouth dropped and she somehow turned an even darker shade of red. Mason's voice soothed her and it was somehow familiar, as if she had heard that tone from Mason before. She scooted back a yard causing Mason to feel rejected. Emily then leapt forward and embraced Mason.

"Yes, I would love to. I've liked you for a long time too since you stood up for me when Rex beat the snot out of you," smiled Emily.

"Really? That's great!" grinned Mason.

Mason hugged Emily for what seemed like years and then let go. Mason's watch then beeped.

"It's eight-thirty, I better get you home," smiled Mason turning off his watch alarm.

"Don't we have to go to one more place? The place where you wanted to go?" asked Emily brushing her hair out of her face.

"Nah, it's not very important anymore," smiled Mason giving Emily his jacket.

Emily smiled and put on Mason's jacket. Although it was several sizes too big for her, she enjoyed wearing Mason's jacket as they walked to the parking garage. Mason put on his motorcycle helmet as Emily put on hers. Mason drove Emily home as she embraced Mason and put her head on Mason's back. All the while Mason had a shit-eating grin on his face. When Mason drove Emily home, she gave her the helmet and she walked into the house. Emily smiled and gave a good-bye wave before the door closed. When the door closed Mason sped off towards his house when he realized he was almost out of power. He then turned into a charging station to recharge his ride when his cell phone rang.

"Hello?" asked Mason.

"Mason is that you?! Hey it's Jeremy…. WHERE ARE YOU NOW!?"

"Um, I'm at a charge station? Why are you calling so late? If you needed something you should have called me earlier," said Mason plugging up his cycle in an outlet.

In the background Mason heard yelling that sounded like Ulrich focused towards the group for not thinking about calling Mason on his cell phone. Mason chuckled a little then put the phone back to his ear.

"Anyway, after that we need you at the factory pronto," replied Jeremy.

"Okay," smiled Mason.

"What's up with you? Did something good happen?" asked Jeremy.

"I'll tell you when I get there," replied Mason hanging up.

After paying for gas, Mason headed to the factory where he parked his motorcycle in the building and rode the elevator down to the supercomputer room. The door opened and Mason stepped out to see the disapproving look of the others. One look that surpassed the other was Ulrich who looked like a train wreck.

"Hey guys," waved Mason trying not to be awkward.

"Where did you do?" asked Ulrich putting his hands in his pockets.

"Shopping," replied Mason walking over to Jeremy.

"Because of you, I was immersed in a crowd of fans and news reporters, I was stuck there for hours because of your little habit of disappearing!" growled Ulrich almost tempted to punch Mason in the face.

"Okay, okay I'm sorry, the last thing we wanted to do is get you into trouble," apologized Mason hoping that would patch things up.

"Wait, who's we?" asked Jeremy turning around in his chair forgetting the conversation earlier.

"With Emily," teased Ulrich.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO," replied the others causing Mason to turn red.

"So what happened? Did you two kiss?" smiled Aelita imitating Odd's annoying prying.

"NOOOOO….we're going out now," replied Mason looking away while scratching his head.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO," cheered the others again.

"OKAY JEEZE!" barked Mason causing the other to laugh at his red face.

"Enough teasing the new boyfriend, anyway we have this problem on our hands," huffed Jeremy typing into the computer.

"What's wrong?" asked Mason peeking over Jeremy.

"Well I shouldn't say a problem or solution, in fact, I'm not entirely sure what it is," replied Jeremy.

"What do you mean?" asked Odd.

"Well, imagine this program as a separate operating system for the supercomputer, it seems benign but I won't be able to give a proper diagnosis until you guys get to Sector 5 and do some information grabbing," explained Jeremy.

"Okay, but not tonight… I don't know about you but I've had a long day," explained Ulrich stretching.

"Alright guys, let's load up then, I'm past curfew anyway," replied Yumi walking over to the elevator.

All of them walked to the elevator when Mason stopped and glared.

"What's wrong?" asked Aelita.

"Are you…are you guys wearing my clothes?" asked Mason.

The gang looked at each other and realized that they forgot to take off Mason and Dan's clothes. They all laughed and gave Mason back his clothes and all reached the entrance of the factory. While everyone went ahead and began discussing their fan base Mason walked behind and for the first time observing the trees and flora around the forest. Suddenly Mason heard steps coming towards him and instinctively got into a fighting stance.

"Calm down, it's just me," smiled Aelita walking over to Mason.

"Oh, it's only you, whew! Thought it was…never mind what I thought it was….what are you doing?" asked Mason.

"Just want to pry some information from you," grinned Aelita.

"So you stalked me in the woods because you were curious?" said Mason in a joking way.

"So did she ask you or did you ask her?" asked Aelita rolling her eyes.

"I asked her," replied Mason walking alongside Aelita.

"Did you tell her anything about Lyoko?" asked Aelita slightly more serious.

"She asked a few simple questions, she just asked about how we get to Lyoko and what happens when we get shot at," replied Mason.

"Okay, did you tell her about Max?" asked Aelita now in full seriousness.

Mason stopped and then looked down at the sidewalk. He gave a sigh and then turned to Aelita.

"No, she did ask about if X.A.N.A. could create people and I told her no. I don't intend to tell her much of anything else about Lyoko. I especially am not going to tell about the return to the past program or any time X.A.N.A. has attacked. The public thinks we stop X.A.N.A. before he could do anything based off of my observations today, so they won't see a return to the past coming. The last thing we need is a fan sabotaging the return to the past program and we can't fix this," explained Mason continuing walking.

"So you're going to lie to her," replied Aelita.

"Well, not exactly lie, but more like dodge the truth," responded Mason shrugging.

"And what if we do fix this problem, that means you will have to make Emily fall in love with you a second time," replied Aelita worried about how much Mason could take.

"You mean third," smirked Mason.

"Third what are you- wait, you were in the forest…you asked her out!" gasped Aelita.

"Yeah, she said yes before and before anything else could happen…..Max came," replied Mason.

"What else what about to happen," grinned Aelita her mischievous grin learned from Odd.

"Nothing…nothing!" blurted Mason turning around.

Aelita gasped, "You were about to kiss her that night!"

"PFFFTTT NO!" denied Mason turning red.

"Your voice says no but your face says yes," laughed Aelita getting a kick out of Mason's embarrassment.

"Okay, fine, so what? But please keep it a secret," sighed Mason with a small smirk on the left side of his mouth.

"My lips are sealed," smiled Aelita.

"Thanks," smiled Mason.

The group reached Kadic where all went their separate ways. Mason offered to take Yumi home and she agreed, despite Ulrich's worries of her falling off. After dropping off Yumi, Mason drove back to his apartment where he parked the motorcycle in the garage and went through the back to prevent the small group of people out front from recognizing him.

"Hey uncle I'm home," announced Mason putting the pile of clothes he brought up with him on the couch.

"Hey Mason, how was things?" replied Mason's uncle from the office.

"Good, are you working?" asked Mason.

"Um, yeah," replied Dan working on the laptop.

Dan took the cigarette out of his mouth and blew the smoke from his lips and nostrils. Mason then came in the room with a large smile on his face.

"Don't you have a shit-eating grin on your face," smirked Dan, "What happened?"

"Asked Emily out," replied Mason.

"Oh, cool congratulations Mason. You know it's going to be difficult with your Lyoko warrior fame running in full steam. You will hardly get any privacy and your girlfriend may get jealous," warned Dan putting a piece of paper into a scanner.

"Okay, I'll take that into account thanks you uncle," nodded Mason.

"By the way, you're thirty minutes behind curfew, go to bed before I consider grounding you," smirked Dan leaning his head on one hand while typing with the other.

Mason disappeared in a flash and Dan heard thumping up the stairs and a door close at lightning speed.

"That's what I thought," thought Dan to himself sending an email.

Mason got into his pajama boxers and turned out the light and then lay in bed. Mason crossed his arms over his head and stared at the ceiling thinking about new fame, new motorcycle, and his new girlfriend. He also thought about what Aelita said about not telling Emily about the incident with Max. What really echoed in Mason's mind was how everything he had gained in the past few days would disappear when they returned to the past. Before Mason's mind became too overwhelmed with thinking, he drifted off to sleep.


	10. Motive

**Hey another chapter! Changed my username from LL910 to a more...original name. This is because I plan to expand my writing. Good news! As of recently, we just hit 2k views on this fanfiction! Thank you guys for reading and to those who take a moment of their time to review. Anyway, I have just connected my account to a Fiction Press account in order to start writing my own original material! Now for those who read the BOLD LETTERS, in your opinion, can you use an OC character that you put in a fanfiction and then transfer them to an original story? Please PM me your opinion as I continue to pump out more fanfiction this summer! **

**C****hapter 10: Motive**

The tiresome, high-pitched alarm on Mason's alarm clock blared awaking him from his slumber. Mason grumbled and hid under the sheets as he slammed his hand on the snooze button; ceasing the monotonous blaring. Mason rose from his bed and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Mason, wearing his dragon boxers, dragged his feet over to his dresser to find a shirt to put on. Mason put on one of his many maroon shirts and slipped on his slippers before descending down the stairs of his apartment. when he got down to the base level of his apartment, Mason found it absolutely silent; he assumed his uncle was still asleep. Mason looked down the hall to check; he saw that the door to his Uncle's room was open which meant that he was awake.

"Uncle, are you making breakfast today?" asked Mason scratching his head.

Mason walked through the living room and did not hear any response from his uncle, only the echo of his own feet hitting the wood.

"Uncle where are you?" asked Mason walking into the hallway.

Mason heard a grumble sound come from the hallway between the kitchen and the door way, so Mason walked over to check the source. Mason's jaw dropped in shock of the sight which beheld itself on the floor. There in the hallway, Mason looked in shock as Dan was lying on the floor. Mason ran over to his uncle and turned him over. Dan made a mumbling noise which calmed Mason's nerves only slightly.

"Mason? Is that you my dear nephew?" asked Dan weakly.

"Yes uncle it's me," said Mason, "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"Lean in closer, I need to whisper it in your ear," replied Dan sounding weaker and weaker.

Mason nodded and leaned next to his uncle. Dan lifted his neck and got next to Mason's ear.

"My favorite soap opera…it ended last night. I don't think I can live anymore," whispered Dan.

Mason's look went from concerned to angry to disappoint as he dropped his uncle on the wood floor with a thud.

"Ouch, hey!" growled Dan rubbing his head.

"Don't even, you deserved that," replied Mason looking at his face in the mirror then rubbing his jaw, "I think I'm growing hair on my face,"

"Maybe, at first, you'll grow one of those awkward mustaches which grows in patches that some teens get; no one will want to look at it," laughed Dan wiggling his fingers towards Mason and pretending to put a curse on his facial hair.

"Ha ha, anyway I came down to see if you were going to make breakfast today," huffed Mason still hurt over Dan's false endangerment.

"Nothing much, probably just some frozen stuff, I'll prepare it now," said Dan rubbing his throbbing head.

Dan, still lying on the floor, rolled into the kitchen while getting a weird stare from Mason. In the kitchen, the strange uncle got up and brushed off his clothes, and put two frozen waffles into the toaster. Then he walked over to the couch and sat down crossing his legs upon his descent. He lit himself a cigarette as he placed his feet on the foot rest.

"So do you want to tell about what happened yesterday?" suggested Dan.

Mason nodded and then sat down in the chair perpendicular to the left of the couch. Mason began from when he jumped out of the window to when he dropped off Yumi at her house. All the while Dan absorbed the information only signaling his attention with nods and "uh huh"s. At the end of the story, Mason put his hands on his knees and waited for his uncle's response. Daniel stared at Mason for a moment, tapped cigarette ash into the dish, and then returned it to his mouth.

"So let me get this straight," huffed Dan puffing on the cigarette, "You made your friends go on a wild goose chase to find you just because you didn't want them to know that you were on a date?"

"It wasn't a- okay maybe it was, but I wanted to do it with as much ease as possible, it's getting harder to have any true privacy you know, like you said last night it'll be hard to some privacy," pointed out Mason with his legs crossed on the sofa.

"But that doesn't mean you make your friends go through the trouble of finding out where you disappear off to," scorned Dan tapping ash into the ashtray again.

"Yeah, I know, I know," admitted Mason rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh yeah, speaking of dates and that I forgot to ask you about it yesterday. Elephant in the room, when is Emily coming over for dinner?" asked Dan rubbing the stubble on his chin.

"Uh, I don't know. I'll ask her when I see her today," shrugged Mason getting up when he heard the toaster pop.

"If you're going anywhere today, don't forget to go through the back to make sure no one spots you," warned Dan.

"Okay, got it!" acknowledged Mason staring at the crisp, delicious waffles in the toaster.

"Also, don't forget to go by your school today, you're going to get your testing results," reminded Dan looking over at what Mason was doing.

"Okay I'll go over there now," smiled Mason seeing his opportunity to get out of the apartmant and stealing the two waffles from the toaster.

"NOT UNTIL YOU SIT DOWN AND EAT….," yelled Dan rising from the couch before being interrupted by a slamming door.

Dan gave a sigh and then got up from the couch. He put of his cigarette, opened the windows to let out the smoke smell, and then turned on the TV. Dan slumped back down on the couch and crossed his legs as he watched the Lyoko Warriors' faces flash on the news for the umpteenth time this week.

"He's just excited about his new girlfriend that's all," explained Dan giving himself an excuse not to pummel Mason when he returned home.

As he finished eating the stolen waffles, Mason went through the back of the apartment to prevent yesterday's shenanigans to recur. Mason looked over at his motorcycle parked on the side, but decided not to take it due to the close proximity of the school. He put on his sunglasses and then strolled over to the school. Surprisingly, there was no news crew outside the Kadic gate or anywhere is campus as he walked in.

"Huh, no annoying news crews are here today," thought Mason to himself as he headed over to the cafeteria.

Mason walked into the cafeteria to see that everyone sitting down turned around and stared at him with looks of awe. The blond haired boy took off his sunglasses and placed them in his jacket pocket. As he walked through the lines of students, memories of his first day at Kadic ran through his head as he heard people talk about him in whispers and gossip. As he walked by the masses of gossiping students, he found his table and sat down.

"Hey guys," greeted Mason sitting his chair.

"Hey," replied the others eating their food.

Mason looked around to see that, not surprisingly, Jeremy and William were not sitting at the table with the others.

"I understand why Einstein isn't here but how come William isn't?" asked Mason looking around.

"You can look for yourself," grumbled Yumi pointing outside.

Mason looked outside to see William talking to a few of his fan girls as he took up notebooks and signed autographs.

"What's wrong with that?" asked Mason confused, "You're not jealous are you?"

"Of course not, I was just hoping that we could get a break from all these fans," huffed Yumi pushing her eggs around her plate.

"Getting tired of the fame?" smirked Mason.

"No way! I'm still getting used to all these cool perks!" interrupted Odd looking outside and then to the rest of the group, "Heck, next they'll be making a movie of us!"

"Well, I am I sure hope Jeremy gets the return to the past program working again," hoped Yumi putting the eggs in her mouth.

Suddenly, a stomping sound came closer and closer to the group sitting at the window table. It was Sissi with Nicholas and Herb following shortly behind.

"Hey you dweebs, is it true that you are super heroes!?" asked Sissi loud enough to get the attention of the entire lunch room.

"If we were superheroes, we'd be running around with masks and super-tight costumes fighting off the bad guys in the streets,  
witted Odd.

"You get the point what she's asking is if you guys are really what the news says you are," retorted Nicholas pointing at the group.

"Yeah, what's going on?" demanded Herb putting his hands on his hips.

"Quiet you two! Still, is it true that you are heroes?" further questioned Sissi.

"Did you check the news today?" asked Mason.

"Of course I watched the news today! In fact, it's showing as I'm talking to you nerds!" replied Sissi in a rude attitude.

"Do you see our faces on the news with the word "hero" underneath them?" asked Mason starting to grin.

"Yeah, what's your point?" asked Sissi.

"Well if you can read, which I now doubt you can, then you can easily see that we're heroes," smiled Mason shrugging his shoulders and laughing along with Odd.

"Grr, quiet Laird! Anyway Ulrich, I was wondering if you can give a one on one interview with me!" smiled Sissi.

"Oh I'd love to, but oh wait! I realized I have a million better things to do, so no," replied Ulrich giving the usual cold shoulder to Sissi.

Sissi realized that even though the news said they were heroes, it was present that the group was still going to act the same around her. After such a realization, Sissi stormed off red in the face with Nicholas and Herb, a girl suddenly walked up to the table causing the group to turn around.

"Hello there, may we help you?" politely asked Aelita giving a little smile.

"Hi, it's me Azra, and I was wondering if I could sit with you guys," smiled Azra hoping to get a definite yes.

"Well um, I don't know if…," went on Aelita before being interrupted by Claire who had just come up.

"Hold on Azra, Odd said I could sit at their table today!" argued Claire looking over at Odd for support.

"Well you weren't sitting here! So sorry, you snooze you lose!" replied Azra.

"Well sorry if you didn't make a reservation!" growled Claire.

The warriors looked back and forth at the two girls each of them willing to beat up the other to sit with the heroes. Before a fight could start though, someone came behind the girls and tapped them on the shoulders causing both of them to turn around.

"What… Emily? Not you too! Did Odd say you could sit here also?" asked Claire.

Emily had her hair in a ponytail with exposed bangs. She wore her glasses and a shirt similar to that she wore the day before.

"No, I'm here to sit with Mason," smiled Emily with a sense of pride in her tone.

Mason sat up and peered behind the two girls who stood in front of him to see what would happen. They were no longer paying attention to the Lyoko warriors but now focusing full attention on the third girl.

"Mason? I thought Mason wasn't into any girl here at Kadic. Why do you think that Mason would want to sit with you?" asked Claire not to be mean but just being curious.

"What makes her think that is that she is my girlfriend. I've been saving this spot for you," interrupted Mason standing up and pulling the chair out for her.

Azra and Claire stared with jaws dropped as Emily happily sat down in the seat Mason pulled out for her. Mason then pushed her chair back to the table and sat himself down.

"I do believe our table is full now," said Mason with a smirk on his face.

Claire stared at Odd in disbelief and nearly slapped him across the face before realizing that he was not worth it.

"You may be a hero now, but you're still the same exact Odd," growled Claire before storming off.

"Um, maybe some other time?" stuttered Azra in embarrassment before walking off.

"Wait Claire, come back! What's that supposed to mean?" gasped Odd offended by Claire's comment.

"Let's face it Odd, since we were "discovered" your head is just as, if not more, inflated as when we were in secret," smiled Aelita putting some toast in her mouth.

Odd crossed his arms and slumped in his chair as the other laughed at his misfortune, and then the group looked over at Emily.

"I'm sorry, did I do something wrong?" asked Emily beginning to regret her approach.

"No, sorry, we're just surprised that you came over here like that. None of us have ever seen you out of your shell like this. Most of the time, no offense, your very quiet," explained Yumi.

"Oh, well, I usually don't have very much to say. My grandpa always told me a wise person doesn't speak unless they have something to say," smiled Emily scooping up a piece of egg.

Mason's small smirk turned into a grin as he looked at the others bewildered by what Emily just said. Odd was even surprised at what Emily just said, and partially wished she acted this way when they had dated.

"So Emily, how much has Mason told you about our job?" asked Ulrich.

"Not very much, he's only told me a little bit of what hasn't already been on the news," replied Emily shooting a small mischievous look at Mason causing him to flinch.

"So, how does it feel to date a Lyoko warrior?" asked Aelita smiling while sipping from her glass.

" well don't forget I dated Odd a little before so technically I've dated two Lyoko warriors. Despite that, it's a little different than dating anybody else. It'll be a little difficult to get some privacy, but I think it's pretty cool for the most part. Not many people can handle the pressure that comes with a job like that, and keeping it a secret like that. Speaking of that, what happened which blew your cover?" asked Emily.

The group went silent. They weren't going to tell her that the computer itself sent the emails. That could cause suspicion that the Lyoko warriors didn't have their situation under control. All the other warriors looked over at Mason. If anyone was going to fib to Emily, it had to be Mason in order to be convincing.

"Well, what we believe happened was… oh, when Mattock came and installed the cameras, someone probably saw us on tape. They then got curious and found our location and then took some information from the supercomputer, information which they saw as important for the public to know and then they sent it to the press," explained Mason trying his hardest not to look guilty.

Emily nodded, "It sounds like you should find this person,"

"Yeah, we definitely should find out how this happened," replied Aelita then nodding to the others who nodded back.

A whistle blew in the cafeteria and everyone turned around to see that it was Jim. Jim spat the whistle out his mouth and then prepared for one of his speeches.

"Attention students! Today is the day that you will get back your test results back. Now as you know we have a bunch of heroes in our presence, but they will not get any special treatment from our educational system. It would be unfair if we just slapped an A for effort on them just because they save the world, and, uh, stuff. Anyway, you will get your final scores in manila envelopes like these," explained Jim waving the envelope above his head, "Your exam grade as well as your final class grade are included in these envelopes, another copy will be mailed to your parents or guardians SO DON'T TRY PULLING THE WOOL OVER THEIR EYES! Anyone who thinks they can get past the discipline of their parents by changing a grade or two is mistaken HA-HA! Uh, where was I going with this?"

"Getting our envelopes?" asked Odd.

"Oh yeah, thanks Odd. Now, GO GET YOUR ENVELOPES IN YOUR HOME ROOM WHEN THE BELL RINGS!" announced Jim, "THAT IS ALL!"

Jim left the cafeteria about three minutes before the bell rang; as soon as the bell rang, the students nearly crushed each other trying to get out of the cafeteria. Emily was about to jump up and join the madness before Mason tugged on her shirt sleeve.

"Calm down, just sit and relax for a few minutes until the cafeteria isn't such a mad house," smiled Mason patting the seat next to him.

Emily looked at the large crowd and then back at the Lyoko warriors who nodded in agreement to Mason's nodded back and sat back down with the others until the cafeteria cleared out. The group then got up and began to walk outside as William ran over to join the group.

"Hey, sorry I was dealing with some fans," replied William looking over at Emily.

Emily gave a small wave to William; he looked over at the rest of the group and then back to Emily.

"Hey Leduc, what are you doing here?" asked William.

"Emily is going to hang out with us while we go get our final results," explained Mason taking Emily's hand.

Emily smiled at Mason as his fingers wrapped around hers, but on the inside she was screaming with joy. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever imagined that Mason would be holding her hand, well she did imagine it several times, but she never thought it would be a reality. Even though she had only known Mason for about seven months, it felt like as if she'd known him for much longer.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go get our results!" smiled Aelita as the others walked with her to get their results.

The group separated and headed to their classes where they got their envelopes. Excluding a few stares the gang, especially Emily, received; the gang was not confronted or hounded at all.

"Mr. Delmas talked to us about you guys a few days ago so don't worry if no one is confronting you," explained Emily walking back with Mason.

"Oh okay, I bet the others are a little worried that our fellow students are going to jump them after they leave campus," snickered Mason looking at his envelope.

"How do you think you did?" asked Emily.

"Decent, although me and my uncle will fight over how well I did. What about you? How do you think you did?" asked Mason putting the envelope in the large inside coat pocket.

"I don't know, I'm worried I'll get in trouble over it though," sighed Emily opening her envelope.

"Relax, you did fine," assured Mason.

"You really think so?" asked Emily opening the envelope.

"Yeah," replied Mason giving a small smile.

Emily took the paper out and peered at it slightly and then put it back in the envelope.

"How'd you do?" asked Mason raising an eyebrow.

"I'll look at it later; I'll show it to my grandma first. She usually is more...accepting of my grades," explained Emily.

As Emily finished the last sentence, the rest of the group, excluding William, walked up with their grades out talking about how well they did.

"How well did you guys do?" asked Mason putting his hands in his pockets.

"Aelita and Einstein got all high A's…again, Yumi was next with one A, three B's, and three C's…William got all B's…Ulrich got six C's and a B, then I got all D's except in art…I got an A in art. I have to say that we've done a lot better this year than any other year we've been Lyoko warriors, but we haven't spent more or less time on Lyoko than any other school year," commented Odd looking at his final grades.

"Huh, that is weird," said Mason rubbing his chin, "Ulrich usually has D's and F's"

"HEY!" barked Ulrich, "I got help from Jeremy this quarter so I've improved!"

Ulrich's pride was bruised; he tried extra hard this time to get exceptional grades to prevent another argument with his parents over how well he did. While the group laughed at Ulrich's hasty reply, they heard steps coming up behind them. They all turned around to see that it was William running up as fast as he could. He stopped for a moment to breathe as he slumped over; after a minute he got back up.

"Hey, there's someone to see us, and I think you'd be surprised to see who it is," huffed William.

Everyone muttered "huh?" at different time but followed William anyway to the front of the school to see a massive amount of news crews taking pictures of a black Chrysler 300 stretch limousine parked out front.

"So that's where all the new reporters were today," thought Mason.

The crowd of news reporters split in half as a man dressed in a white suit stepped out of the limousine and strolled over to the group. It was Samuel Mattock with the same pair of sunglasses and the same false smile he wore when he last appeared at Kadic. He walked up to the Lyoko warriors carrying a few cards as well as a suitcase. The whole time, the news took pictures and video recording of the interactions between Mattock and the gang.

"Hello, you may recognize me from before, but I'm Samuel Mattock- head of Legatus Corporation. I saw your, how do I say, "exposure" on the news and I knew I had to work with you. As one of you may already know, I've sent a thank you gift to Mason Laird as a form of introduction to what I can do for all of you," explained Mattock adjusting his tie and handing each of the Lyoko warriors a card with his information

"Go on," said Odd smiling at the card with a twinkle in his eye.

"Besides being famous for your heroics on Lyoko, I can make you famous for public appearances sponsored by Legatus. It can be so that your wildest dreams are fulfilled; basically I can make your job appreciated based on public approval. Plus, I can make it so that you all will be set for life after your fame dies down a bit," smiled Mattock.

"WE'LL DO IT!" announced Odd.

"Now hold on Odd, you can't run blindly into these kinds of situations without knowing what you're getting into," insisted Jeremy.

"Always know the fine print when it comes to this kind of stuff," cautioned Mason turning to face Mattock, "What do we have to do in order to make this a reality?"

"Do a few small favors for me, a little bit of advertising and appearances scheduled by Legatus and your wildest realities will come true," promised Mattock taking out a large contract and a ball-point pen.

"WE'LL DO IT!" repeated Odd taking the pen.

"Odd wait!" scorned the rest of the group causing Odd to flinch.

"Will you give us a moment?" smiled Aelita taking Odd by the elbow.

"Of course take your time," smiled Mattock then turning around and walking back to the limo.

The press followed Mattock as he walked back to his limousine, leaving the group alone to discuss the opportunity presented to them in peace.

"So what do you think you guys?" asked Yumi.

"SOUNDS GOOD TO ME!" sang out Odd.

"We already know you say yes Odd, but what about the rest of us?" questioned Yumi.

"Well the technology that Mattock would provide could allow us to get the upper hand on X.A.N.A.; only at the price of a little advertising and parading around, so I say yes," nodded Jeremy.

"So two who say yes at this point," accounted Odd.

"I say no," lamented Mason with a grim look on his face, "trust me, I've been in this kind of situation before with my last band; trust me, after two weeks you'll be sick of it. There will be too much pressure and you wouldn't be able to do anything without someone having a negative opinion on it,"

"I say no too for the sake of keeping the last bit of privacy we have left," added Yumi.

"I'm all for it! Wouldn't it be cool for everyone to appreciate what we do?" smiled William.

"Three for two!" smiled Odd fist pumping.

"I don't know, I mean it'd be great to have everyone know us for what we do, but then it could possibly mean sacrificing any privacy, and sanity, that we still have. Both sides bring up good points," sighed Aelita drumming her fingers on her chin.

"No way, the last thing I need is a bunch of girls and fans harassing us every moment of the day. Look how it is right now, ninety percent of the time we're being chased by news reporters and fans. If we get into this then we lose all of that," preached Ulrich crossing his arms.

"Aw it's tied now, we need the tie breaker," smiled Odd looking over at Aelita.

Everyone else looked at Aelita waiting for her reply.

"Aelita, if we get this to work we can have an advantage over X.A.N.A.!" argued Jeremy.

"We run the risk of going down in flames," warned Mason.

"But we will have the chance for the whole world to recognize our feats!" retorted William.

"Then we run the risk of having to deal with the pressure coming from the public!" replied Ulrich.

"But it'll be a positive pressure, plus we'll be worshipped by the people!" cheered Odd.

Aelita's eyes darted back and forth at the faces who were expecting her to favor their side based on their own opinions. During this Emily was standing back allowing those who were truly involved in this to discuss their next action; the way things were going, Aelita was going to break down.

"Mason, may I speak to you for a second?" asked Emily wringing her wrists.

Mason looked at everyone who sensed that Emily had something to say about the situation. Ulrich nodded at Mason which he took as an approval to take Emily's input into account. The blonde-haired boy walked over to Emily with a small smile on his face.

"What's up?" asked Mason taking Emily's hands.

"Well, by the way things are looking Aelita seems to be stuck between a rock and a hard place," commented Emily.

"What do mean by that?" asked Mason.

"Well, look at her. She doesn't know what to think and all you guys are doing is trying to force your side of the argument on her," explained Emily.

"Well, what am I supposed to do, we need her honest answer to make a final decision," retorted Mason.

"What you should do is support what Aelita has to say. Don't try to force your rationale onto her; it'll just make things worse. I understand why you said no, but I believe that whatever Aelita says, you should be a good friend and accept her decision and the same should go with Ulrich and Yumi. I would tell them the same thing but it's not my place to do so," suggested Emily swinging Mason's hands.

Mason ceased Emily's arm swinging and thought about it for a second. He then turned around to see the gang arguing for each point causing Aelita to become uneasy.

"Hey guys! Hold on!" ordered Mason squeezing Emily's and then walking back to the group.

"What?" asked Odd.

"Aelita should be able to make a decision based on what she thinks, not based on the arguments from both sides," nodded Emily.

The group went quiet and all fixed their gazes back at Aelita who was red from being flustered. Everyone looked at each other regretting putting their needs in front of a friend's. All of them took a moment to breath and calm down before looking back over at Aelita for a decision.

"Okay, Aelita what do you believe we should do?" asked Jeremy.

"I believe in trying to eliminate X.A.N.A. by any means without causing harm to those uninvolved. If joining Legatus helps us do that, as Jeremy believes, then I'm all for it," smiled Aelita.

"WOOOOHHOOO!" cheered Odd jumping in the air, "I'll go get Mr. Mattock!"

"Thank you Emily," smiled Aelita.

"No trouble at all! It's the least I could do to prevent conflict! I mean the last thing we all need is you guys fighting each other rather than fighting X.A.N.A.!" laughed Emily uncomfortably.

"Good choice in picking a lady Mason!" rejoiced William repeatedly smacking Mason's back.

"Thanks," spoke Mason between slaps on the back.

In the limo, Mattock was reading an article on his tablet when he heard Odd gently tap the glass of the limousine window. Mattock waved to the chauffeur to roll down the window. The glass slowly went down letting the sun into the limo as well as the brightness of Odd's enormous grin.

"Have you all come to a decision?" asked Mattock turning off his tablet.

"Yes sir! I am happy to report that we wish to be a part of Legatus!" lilted Odd.

"That's great news, let me get the contract out!" replied Mattock leaving the limousine.

In moments Mattock was standing in front of the group with documents on a clipboard as well as a pen attached on a string to the clipboard. Jeremy who was up first was handed the clipboard by Mattock who now had a grin which stretched across his entire face. Jeremy read through the document stating what would happen to those who signed the contract.

"Does this include free access to the technology in your possession?" asked Jeremy not seeing anything about it on the fine print.

"Of course it does! Anything you need I'll be happy to supply!" laughed Mattock.

Jeremy scribbled his name onto one of the several lines found on bottom of the final page. Next was Odd who signed the last page without looking at the print.

"Risk taker? I like it!" smiled Mattock passing the clipboard to William who also signed it without looking at it as well.

Next up was Mason who looked over it before signing as well. After that Yumi took the pen and begrudgingly signed the document before handing the pen over to Ulrich. Ulrich skimmed the contract and signed before handing the pen to Aelita who was happy to sign without asking any questions.

"Excellent," smiled Mattock, "I will be happy to show you around when we get everything prepared for you,"

"How long is that going to take?" asked William.

"Patience my boy patience, but it will be some time before everything will be set up. It'll take anywhere from twenty-four hours to a week," explained Mattock ensuring that the signatures were legible.

"If you would have read the contract it explained it," laughed Jeremy and Mason.

Suddenly, the side of Mattock's pants rang and the CEO took out his phone and answered it. Mattock was speaking to one of his buyers as his tone was serious and he mentioned several times a delivery date and on time payments. With a few harsh words at the end, he hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket.

"You must excuse me; I have a client to speak to. This will have to be goodbye for now and I will send the rest of you gifts in the mail," nodded Mattock walking towards the limo.

As Mattock reached the limousine his chauffeur got out the limo and opened the door, allowing Mattock to slide in. The chauffeur then closed the door and returned to the driver's seat, then driving off in a puff of smoke.

"Well then, I have to say that was interesting," nodded Mason.

"Yeah, I always thought that people would want to shut down the supercomputer or isolate us. I think it's fair to say that none of us imagined this as a result of our discovery," agreed Jeremy.

The others all agreed what Jeremy had addressed was true and would stay true if they played their cards right as well as get the return to the past program fixed in time. With a simple return to the past, the group could get past this whole fame phase with ease. At the same time, a part of them wanted the fame of saving the world to last as long as it can before the program was fixed. Meanwhile, Mattock had finished a ten minute drive back to the headquarters of Legatus. The limousine drove around the artistic fountain to the front of the headquarters where the chauffeur opened the door for Mattock. Mattock arose from the limo door and walked through the automatic doors where he met with his assistant.

"Welcome back sir," greeted the assistant handing Mattock some papers.

"Good to be back. Are these the potential profits for the school's security system?" asked Mattock looking over the profit reports.

"Yes sir, and I'm happy to report that it would be more money for us when an incident occurs to charge the school the unit as a whole instead of ten separate units," explained the assistant pointing the data out on the documents.

"Excellent job, do what will get us the most money," ordered Mattock signing the documents.

"How'd your trip to Kadic go?" asked the assistant.

"It went just as planned, the group signed on with us. We now have these new heroes on a leash that I have power to tighten or slack. With the group advertising our policies, we are able to get enormous profit margins and then be competition for companies such as McAfee, Norton, and even physical protection companies such as ADT!" plotted Mattock getting into the elevator.

The assistant ran into the elevator right before it could close on them. The assistant pushed the elevator button to go to floor 10 which was Mattock's office. The elevator rose steadily making a "ping" noise every time the floor number changed in the elevator. The elevator reached the top floor and made a louder "ping" sound and opening the doors. Mattock stepped through with his assistant as they both came up to the secretary who was answering a phone call. The secretary put her call on hold and clicked a button to open the heavy doors leading to Mattock's office. He walked down an elegant hallway filled with pictures and statues; then walked over to his desk and sat down pushing a button to close the automatic windows behind him.

"So what happens now?" asked the assistant.

"We need to prepare a place of luxury for the group to stay at for awhile. Go see if any of the five-star hotels in the city have any good rooms open, price is no object," relied Mattock opening a file found on his desk.

"Are you sure? Is there anything else I can do for you sir?" asked the assistant getting his phone out.

"That is all, you may leave," nodded Mattock picking up the phone on his desk.

Mattock began making calls concerning his client as his assistant began making preparations for the heroes' arrival to the company. Mattock reviewed the contract one last time before putting it in a desk drawer and locking it. Little did the Lyoko warriors know that once they signed that contract, they began the walk down a dangerous path with no chance of escape.


End file.
